The Southeastern Conference (commonly abbreviated, SEC) is a college athletic conference headquartered in , which operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I in athletic competitions; for football, it is part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A). The conference is one of the most successful financially, consistently leading all conferences in revenue distribution to its members including a record $127.2 million for the 2007–2008 fiscal year.The Southeastern Conference was also the first to hold a championship game (and award a subsequent title) for college football and was one of the founding members of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The current commissioner of the Southeastern Conference is Michael Slive.

History

The SEC was established on December 8 and 9, 1932, when the 13 members of the Southern Conference located west and south of theAppalachian Mountains left to form their own conference. Ten of the thirteen charter members have remained in the conference since its inception: the Universities of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi ("Ole Miss"), Tennessee, Auburn, Louisiana State, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt Universities.

The other charter members were:

• Sewanee: The University of the South: Left the SEC in 1940. The school has since de-emphasized varsity athletics and is currently a member of the Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
• Georgia Institute of Technology ("Georgia Tech"): Left the SEC in 1964. In 1975, it became a founding member of the Metro Conference, one of the predecessors to today's Conference USA. Georgia Tech competed in the Metro in all sports except football, in which it was independent. In 1978, Georgia Tech joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports, where it has remained.
• Tulane University: Left the SEC in 1966. Along with Georgia Tech, it was a charter member of the Metro Conference. Unlike Tech, however, Tulane remained in the Metro until it merged with the Great Midwest Conference into the new Conference USA in 1995. Tulane remained an independent in football until the formation of Conference USA.

1991 expansion

In 1991, the SEC expanded from 10 to 12 members with the addition of:

• University of Arkansas (see Arkansas Razorbacks for team history before SEC)
• University of South Carolina (see South Carolina Gamecocks for team history before SEC).

In 1992, the SEC adopted the divisional setup that exists today. Also in 1992, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to sponsor an annual championship game in football, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions. The 1992 and 1993 SEC Championships were held at Birmingham's Legion Field, and at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in all championship games thereafter.

Membership timeline

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Television and radio contracts

The SEC televises football games across various networks during the fall. SEC coverage is primarily provided by CBS and the ESPN family of networks, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ABC. Fox Sports Net also has rights to air seven live football games over the course of the season.

ESPN reported paying $2.25 Billion for broadcast rights of SEC football games beginning in the 2009 season and running through the fiscal year 2025.

Games scheduled for airing are generally picked two weeks before they occur, with a few matches that are selected by CBS and ESPN prior to the season.

CBS has the first pick for a game and selects the highest-profile game to broadcast to a national, over-the-air audience. The CBS game is usually broadcast at 3:30 ET, but CBS will not air an SEC game during the first two weeks of the 2009 season. Some weekends, CBS will air a doubleheader of SEC games. CBS also has the rights for the SEC Championship Game.

ESPN will air several SEC games each week among its various channels, with Saturday time slots generally at 12:00 ET, 7:00 ET, and 7:45 ET, and some SEC games will be shown on Thursday nights. In previous years, Raycom Sports (formerly Lincoln Financial and Jefferson Pilot) offered regional coverage for an SEC game of the week at 12:30 ET, but the new ESPN contract eliminated Raycom's live coverage of SEC games. Instead, beginning in 2009, games at this midday time slot will kickoff at 12:21 ET, aired by the newly branded SEC Network. SEC Network is not a standalone channel; its games will be aired on various stations syndicated through ESPN Regional TV.

The currently scheduled Fox Sports Net games are set for 7:00 ET.

For games not selected by any broadcast provider, certain schools may offer regional pay-per-view.

As of 2008, all SEC schools are affiliated with XM Radio, offering their radio broadcasts to an audience on XM. According to SiriusXM, the Southeastern Conference will not be included as part of the "Best of XM" package deal for Sirius customers.

2008 television contract

During the 2007–2008 fiscal year review meeting, there was discussion among SEC leadership about the possibility of starting a TV network dedicated to its conference, much in the same way the Mountain West Conference and Big Ten Conference have done with the mtn. and Big Ten Networks. A decision was made to postpone the decision until at least the following year.

In August 2008, the SEC announced an unprecedented 15-year television contract with CBS worth an estimated $55 million a year. This will continue the relationship the SEC already has with CBS, which puts the SEC in the unique position as the only conference to have its own exclusive national television network of the big three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) to display the SEC's events.In the same month, the league also announced another landmark television contract with ESPN worth $2.25 billion or $150 million a year for the life of the contract, which is for 15 years. It is the longest and wealthiest contract among all television deals among the major conferences. With these contracts, the SEC has the richest television deals in the country and will make the SEC the most nationally televised and visible conference in the country with the coverage that is provided by these contracts.

Commissioners

The office of Commissioner was created in 1940

Years	Commissioners
1940–1946	Martin S. Conner
1946	N.W. Dougherty (Acting Commissioner)
1948–1966	Bernie Moore
1966–1972	A. M. "Tonto" Coleman
1972–1986	Dr. H. Boyd McWhorter
1986–1989	Dr. Harvey W. Schiller
1990–2002	Roy F. Kramer
2002–present	Michael Slive

Current members

The SEC currently has twelve member institutions in nine Southeastern states. The geographic domain of the conference stretches from Arkansas to South Carolina (west to east) and from Kentucky to Florida (north to south).

The conference is divided into two geographic divisions: the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The twelve current members of the Southeastern Conference are:

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Year Joined	Nickname	Mascot
Eastern Division
University of Florida | (108,655) | 1853 || Public || 51,913 || 1932 | Gators || Albert and Alberta
University of Georgia | (111,580) | 1785 || Public || 33,831 || 1932 | Bulldogs || Hairy Dawg, Uga
University of Kentucky | (270,789) | 1865 || Public || 27,209 || 1932 | Wildcats || The Wildcat, Scratch, Blue (live bobcat)
University of South Carolina | (451,792) | 1801 || Public || 27,488 || 1991 | Gamecocks || [Cocky (mascot)|Cocky, Sir Big Spur (live rooster)
University of Tennessee | (173,890) | 1794 || Public || 26,400 || 1932 | Volunteers, Lady Volunteers || Smokey
Vanderbilt University | (607,413) | 1873 || Private / Non-sectarian || 11,607 || 1932 | Commodores || Mr. C
Western Division
University of Alabama | (88,722) | 1831 || Public || 28,807 || 1932 | Crimson Tide || Big Al
University of Arkansas | (72,000) | 1871 || Public || 19,000|| 1991 | Razorbacks, Lady Razorbacks | Big Red, Boss Hog, Sooie, Pork Chop, Tusk
Auburn University | (54,348) | 1856 || Public || 24,137 || 1932 | Tigers || Aubie, War Eagle VII
Louisiana State University | (224,097) | 1860 || Public || 33,587 || 1932 | Tigers, Lady Tigers || Mike the Tiger
University of Mississippi | (14,051) | 1848 || Public || 17,323 || 1932 | Rebels || Colonel Reb (unofficial)
Mississippi State University | (24,187) | 1878 || Public || 18,601 || 1932 | Bulldogs || Bully

• ^* Enrollment figures include both undergraduate and graduate students.

Sports

The Southeastern Conference sponsors championships in many different sports.

• Football
• Men's Basketball
• Women's Basketball
• Baseball
• Softball (except Vanderbilt)
• Women's Soccer
• Women's Volleyball (except Vanderbilt)
• Men's Cross-Country (except South Carolina)
• Women's Cross Country
• Men's Track & Field (except Vanderbilt)
• Women's Track & Field
• Men's Swimming and Diving (except Arkansas, MSU, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt)
• Women's Swimming and Diving (except MSU and Ole Miss)
• Men's Tennis
• Women's Tennis
• Men's Golf
• Women's Golf
• Women's Gymnastics (Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU only)

Under SEC conference rules reflecting the large number of (male) scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide two more women's varsity sports than men's. The equivalent rule was recently adopted by the NCAA for all of Division I.

While South Carolina and Kentucky field men's soccer teams, the conference does not sponsor the sport; both schools in 2005 joined Conference USA for the sport.

Sports facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity
Eastern Division
Florida	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium	88,548	Stephen C. O'Connell Center	12,000	McKethan Stadium	6,000
Georgia	Sanford Stadium	92,746	Stegeman Coliseum	11,000	Foley Field	3,291
Kentucky	Commonwealth Stadium	67,530	Rupp Arena (men) Memorial Coliseum (women)	23,000 8,500	Cliff Hagan Stadium	3,000
South Carolina	Williams-Brice Stadium	80,250	Colonial Life Arena	18,000	Carolina Stadium	9,000
Tennessee	Neyland Stadium	100,011	Thompson-Boling Arena	21,678	Lindsey Nelson Stadium	4,000
Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt Stadium	39,790	Memorial Gymnasium	14,168	Hawkins Field	3,700
Western Division
Alabama	Bryant-Denny Stadium	92,138	Coleman Coliseum (men) Foster Auditorium (women)	15,043 5,400	Sewell-Thomas Stadium	6,118
Arkansas	Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (primary) War Memorial Stadium (secondary)	72,000 53,727	Bud Walton Arena	19,200	Baum Stadium	10,737
Auburn	Jordan-Hare Stadium	87,451	Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum	10,500	Plainsman Park	4,096
LSU	Tiger Stadium	92,400	Pete Maravich Assembly Center	13,431	Alex Box Stadium	9,200
Ole Miss	Vaught-Hemingway Stadium	60,850	Tad Smith Coliseum	8,700	Swayze Field	6,000+
Mississippi State	Davis Wade Stadium	55,082	Humphrey Coliseum	10,500	Dudy Noble Field	7,200

• One men's home game per year played at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
• Currently under construction to add over 9,000 seats to the south end zone, to raise total capacity to over 101,000.
• Two games played each year at Little Rock, one non-conference game and one SEC game.
• New arena scheduled to open for 2010-11 season.

Football

Before expansion, each SEC school played 6 conference games. Five of these games were against permanent opponents, developing some traditional rivalries between schools, and the 6th game rotated around the other 4 members of the conference.

From 1992 through 2001, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in the schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia – two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time – while Mississippi State played Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the permanent opponents to only one per team.

Under the current format, each school plays a total of eight conference games, consisting of the other five teams in its division, two schools from the other division on a rotating basis, and one school from the other division that it plays each year. All permanent inter-divisional games, with the exception of Arkansas vs. South Carolina, were played annually before SEC expansion in 1992.

The following table shows the permanent inter-divisional opponent for each school listed by total number of games played (records through the completion of the 2008 season with Western Division wins listed first):

Western Division	Eastern Division	Series Record
Auburn	Georgia	53-52-8
Alabama	Tennessee	46-38-7
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	46-35-2
LSU	Florida	23-29-3
Mississippi State	Kentucky	17-20
Arkansas	South Carolina	10-7
Overall Inter-Divisional Record		194-179-21

Other league athletic directors have advocated discarding the current format and adopting the one used by the Big 12 Conference, where teams play three teams from the opposite division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then switch and play the other three teams from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home. However, the potential loss of such heated (and profitable, as the games are often shown on national TV) long-standing rivalries as Auburn-Georgia, Alabama-Tennessee, and LSU-Florida have scuttled such plans on the drawing board. The loss of the annual rivalry between Nebraska and Oklahoma has led some Big 12 athletic directors to make a push to adopt the SEC format for the Big 12.

Interestingly, before the institution of divisional play, many of Auburn's yearly rivalries were with teams in the East (Florida, Georgia and Tennessee), while Tennessee's yearly rivalries were with teams in the West (Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss).

All-time school records

#	SEC	Records	Win %
1	Alabama	807-316-43	70.9
2	Tennessee	773-327-53	69.4
3	Georgia	724-384-54	64.6
4	LSU	701-383-47	64.1
5	Auburn	681-395-47	63.0
6	Arkansas	647-440-39	58.9
7	Florida	643-373-40	62.7
8	Mississippi	605-464-35	56.4
9	Kentucky	560-552-44	50.3
10	Vanderbilt	554-547-50	50.3
11	South Carolina	532-530-44	50.09
12	Mississippi State	481-519-39	48.1

Championship Game

The SEC Championship Game pits the SEC Western Division representative against the Eastern Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. The SEC was the first conference in the NCAA to hold a championship game in football, which was made possible by the conference's expansion to twelve members with the addition of the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina in 1991. (The first championship game was during the 1992 season.) As of 2009, eight of the twelve SEC members have played in the Championship.

The first two SEC Championship football games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Since 1994, the game has been played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The team designated as the "home" team alternates between division champions; the designation goes to the Eastern champion in even-numbered years and the Western champion in odd-numbered years. As of 2008, the Eastern division of the SEC leads the Western division in overall wins in the championship game 11 to 6.

Bowl tie-ins

The post-season bowl game tie-ins for the SEC for the 2009 season are:

1. Bowl Championship Series – The winner of the SEC Championship Game gains an automatic berth to a BCS bowl, preferably the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA (vs. another BCS-eligible team).
2. Capital One Bowl in Orlando, FL (vs. Big Ten) – Must select either the team with the best overall record among SEC teams not playing in BCS bowls, or a team within one game of the best record.
3. Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL (vs. Big Ten) – Has first choice of remaining teams in the SEC East.
4. Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington, TX (vs. Big 12) – Has first choice of remaining teams in the SEC West.
5. Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, GA (vs. ACC) – Selects after the Outback and Cotton Bowls.
6. Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN (vs. Conference USA) – Works with the Music City Bowl and the SEC office to determine the sixth and seventh picks.
7. Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN (vs. ACC) – Works with the Liberty Bowl and the SEC office to determine the sixth and seventh picks.
8. Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA (vs. Big 12) – If the SEC does not have eight bowl-eligible teams, it will select from the Sun Belt Conference instead.
9. PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, AL (vs. Big East) – If the SEC does not have nine bowl-eligible teams, it will select from the Sun Belt Conference instead.

If the SEC champion is selected to participate in the BCS National Championship Game, the Sugar Bowl is not required to pick the SEC runner-up but may select any eligible BCS team. However, since the game was moved to a standalone basis in 2007, the Sugar Bowl has selected an SEC team, and since 2008 has chosen the SEC runner-up (the 2007 Sugar Bowl featured LSU, who was not the SEC runner-up but was an eligible BCS team).

Under SEC guidelines, unless the Sugar Bowl selects the SEC runner-up, the Capital One Bowl must then pick the SEC runner-up if that team has won two or more games than the next team in the selection order. The SEC runner-up has not played in the Capital One Bowl since Arkansas following the 2006 season.

At this point, the SEC is second in BCS Bowl appearances, with 15 appearances, and first in all-time wins and winning percentage (only including teams with 2 or more appearances), with 11 wins and a .733 winning percentage. The BCS Bowls include the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, and the BCS National Championship Game.

Since the advent of the BCS National Championship Game format, the SEC is a perfect 5-0 in those games. The SEC was 2-0 in the games where the National Championship Game was played as part of the traditional New Year's Day bowls, and since 2007 (when the game was moved to a separate contest one week later) the SEC has participated in all three games and has won all three. Interestingly, the SEC team was ranked #1 only once going into the game (the first contest featuring Tennessee in 1998); the other four times the SEC team (LSU twice and Florida twice) was ranked #2.

Rivalries

The SEC members have long histories. Some of the football rivalries involving SEC teams include:

 | LSU
 | Alabama–LSU rivalry
 | — || 73 || 45-23-5 || Alabama || Alabama Won 2

 | Ole Miss
 | Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry
 | — || 56 || 45-9-2 || Alabama || Alabama Won 5

 | Tennessee
 | Third Saturday in October
 | — || 91 || 46-38-7 || Alabama || Alabama Won 2

 | Texas
 | The Big Shootout
 | — || 77 || 21-56 || Texas || Texas Won 2

 | Texas A&M
 | the Southwest Classic
 | - || 66 || 39-24-3 || Arkansas || Arkansas Won 1

 | LSU || The Tiger Bowl
 | — || 43 || 19-23-1 || LSU || LSU Won 2

 | Miami
 | Battle for the Seminole War Canoe
 | The War Canoe Trophy  || 54 || 26-28 || Miami || Florida Won 1

 | Georgia
 | The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party
 | Okefenokee Oar || 87 || 39-46-2 || Georgia || Florida Won 2

 | Tennessee
 | Third Saturday in September
 | — || 39 || 20-19 || Florida || Florida Won 5

 | Louisville
 | Battle for the Governor's Cup
 | The Governor's Cup || 22 || 13-9 || Kentucky || Kentucky Won 3

 | Ole Miss
 | The Magnolia Bowl
 |The Magnolia Bowl Trophy|| 96 || 55-38-4 || LSU || Ole Miss Won 2

 | Georgia
 | The Border Bash
 | — || 61 || 14-45-2 || Georgia || Georgia Won 2

 |North Carolina
 |Battle for "Carolina"
 |— || 55 || 17-34-4 || North Carolina || South Carolina Won 1

 | Tennessee
 | The Halloween Game
 | — || 27 || 4-22-2 || Tennessee || Tennessee Won 1

Teams		Rivalry Name	Trophy	Meetings	Record	Series leader	Current Streak
Alabama	Auburn	Iron Bowl	James E. Foy, V-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy	74	40-33-1	Alabama	Alabama Won 2
Arkansas	LSU	The Battle for the Golden Boot	The Golden Boot	54	19-34-2	LSU	LSU Won 1
Auburn	Georgia	The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry	—	113	53-52-8	Auburn	Georgia Won 4
Florida	Florida State	Florida–Florida State rivalry	—	53	32-19-2	Florida	Florida Won 5
Georgia	Georgia Tech	Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate	The Governor's Cup	104	60-39-5	Georgia	Georgia Won 1
Kentucky	Indiana	Kentucky–Indiana rivalry	—	36	17-18-1	Indiana	Kentucky Won 1
LSU	Tulane	The Battle for the Rag	The Tiger Rag	97	66-22-7	LSU	LSU Won 17
Mississippi State	Ole Miss	The Egg Bowl	The Golden Egg Trophy	105	41-58-6	Ole Miss	Ole Miss Won 1
Ole Miss	Arkansas	Arkansas–Ole Miss rivalry	—	55	25-29-1	Arkansas	Ole Miss Won 1
South Carolina	Clemson	The Palmetto Bowl	The Hardee's Trophy	107	38-65-4	Clemson	South Carolina Won 1
Tennessee	Kentucky	The Border Battle	The Beer Barrel	104	72-23-9	Tennessee	Tennessee Won 24
Vanderbilt	Tennessee	Tennessee–Vanderbilt rivalry	—	103	28-70-5	Tennessee	Tennessee Won 3

Player awards

Each year, the conference selects various individual awards. In 1994, the conference began honoring former players from each school annually with the SEC Football Legends program.

50th anniversary All-Time SEC Team

In 1982, the SEC Skywriters, a group of media covering the Southeastern Conference, selected members of their All-Time SEC Team for the first 50 years (1933–82) of the SEC.

Coach: Paul Bryant

Offense

QB Archie Manning, Ole Miss 1968-70

HB Charley Trippi, Georgia 1942,45-46

HB Billy Cannon, LSU 1957-59

HB Herschel Walker, Georgia 1980-82

WR Don Hutson, Alabama 1932-34

WR Terry Beasley, Auburn 1969-71

TE Ozzie Newsome, Alabama 1974-77

OL John Hannah, Alabama 1970-72

OL Bruiser Kinard, Ole Miss 1935-37

OC Dwight Stephenson, Alabama 1977-79

OL Bob Suffridge, Tennessee 1938-40

OL Billy Neighbors, Alabama 1959-61

PK Fuad Reveiz, Tennessee 1981-84

Defense

DL Doug Atkins, Tennessee 1950-52

DL Bill Stanfill, Georgia 1966-68

DL Jack Youngblood, Florida 1968-70

DL Lou Michaels, Kentucky 1955-57

DL Gaynell Tinsley, LSU 1934-36

LB Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama 1960-62

LB Jack Reynolds, Tennessee 1967-69

LB D. D. Lewis, Miss. State 1965-67

DB Tucker Frederickson, Auburn 1962-64

DB Jake Scott, Georgia 1967-68

DB Tommy Casanova, LSU 1969-71

DB Don McNeal, Alabama 1977-79

DB Jimmy Patton, Ole Miss 1953-55

P Craig Colquitt, Tennessee 1958-60

Men's basketball

Teams play a 16-game conference schedule, facing each team from its own division twice and each team from the opposite division once. Before expansion, teams played a double round-robin, leading to an exhausting 18-game conference schedule. Not surprisingly, no team ever ran the table when the conference schedule featured 18 games; three teams went 17-1 (Kentucky in 1970 and 1986, LSU in 1981). Since the league slate was trimmed to 16 games, Kentucky has gone undefeated in SEC play in 1996 and 2003.

Basketball tournament

The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament (sometimes known simply as the SEC Tournament) is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The tournament is most often held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, though sometimes takes place at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee or the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida.

Prior to moving to the Georgia Dome, the tournament was most often contested at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, home of the SEC's headquarters and centrally located prior to the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. Other sites to host include on-campus arenas at Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, and the Orlando Arena.

Rivalries

Several men's basketball rivalries have developed in the SEC (westernmost SEC team listed first):

• Alabama-Tennessee

One of the oldest rivalries in the SEC, the Crimson Tide and the Volunteers usually take their hard fought battles on the hardwood down to the last minute, often resulting in buzzer beater victories and overtime thrillers. The all-time record in this rivalry is 72-64 in Alabama's favor.

• Arkansas-Kentucky

The dominance of these two teams in the '90s over everyone else in the SEC led to quite a rivalry, mostly by default, being the best two teams in the conference. The rivalry cooled in the following years as the Razorbacks and Wildcats have slipped toward the middle of the pack in the SEC. With the recent success of new Razorback head coach and former Kentucky player, John Pelphrey, the series has once again risen in prominence.

• Kentucky-Florida

This conference matchup has become a major rivalry in recent years with the rise of the Florida basketball program under Billy Donovan (a former Kentucky assistant). While Kentucky holds an 84-30 advantage in the series due to decades of domination, the margin has narrowed since Donovan became the Gators' head coach.

• Kentucky-Indiana

A "border war" between two of the sport's historic giants. This rivalry is traditionally played at neutral sites, the RCA Dome (Lucas Oil Stadium beginning in 2009) in Indianapolis and Freedom Hall in Louisville, rather than in Bloomington and Lexington. The all-time record in this rivalry is 28-22 in Kentucky's favor.

• Kentucky-Louisville

This rivalry, nicknamed the Battle for Bluegrass, is unlike most that involve SEC schools in that it is relatively recent. For nearly 60 years, Kentucky and Louisville did not face off on the hardwood. Louisville's victory over the Wildcats in the Mideast Regional final in the 1983 NCAA basketball tournament led to pressure from fans to begin a regular-season series between the two teams, which would begin in the 1983-1984 season. The rivalry added a new edge in 2001 when the Cardinals hired former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino (although he was not hired directly from UK). Former UK head coach Tubby Smith was a former UK assistant under Pitino, and reportedly recommended Pitino to Louisville. Pat Forde, an ESPN.com columnist who formerly worked for Kentucky's main daily newspaper, The Courier-Journal of Louisville, wrote during the 2009 offseason that "the temperature [of the rivalry] shot up to nuclear-fusion levels when John Calipari was hired in Lexington", adding "there is a genuine and mutual antipathy between the coaches [Pitino and Calipari], no matter what they say publicly." The Big Blue own the all-time series record at 26-12.

• Kentucky-Tennessee

This rivalry is also a "border war" and the schools are located just three hours apart on Interstate 75. The two teams have played over 200 times in their history. When the two teams play at Knoxville, Thompson-Boling Arena is almost always sold out. Kentucky leads the rivalry 140-64.

• Mississippi State-Alabama

Not only are these two schools the closest to one another geographically within the SEC – a mere 80 miles separate them – but their respective head coaches, Anthony Grant and Rick Stansbury, often battle each other for the same recruits. Although the all-time record in this rivalry is 111-71 in Alabama's favor, Mississippi State has won 6 of their last 8 games against Alabama.

• Ole Miss-Mississippi State

The in-state rivalry between these two teams in men's basketball dates back to the early 1900s. The two teams have played against each other more than 230 times in the SEC's most-played rivalry. Mississippi State leads 133-103 in 236 all time games. Mississippi State has also won 12 of the last 16 and 16 of the last 21 against Ole Miss.

Awards

The SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year is awarded to the player who has proven himself, throughout the season, to be the most exceptional talent in the Southeastern Conference. Various other awards, such as the best tournament player in the SEC Tournament and all conference honors are given out throughout the year.

Baseball

The SEC Baseball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball SEC, first started in 1977. It is a double-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. Since 1998, the tournament has been held at Regions Park in Hoover, Alabama and contested under the format used at the College World Series from 1988 through 2002, with two four-team brackets leading to a single championship game. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

In addition to the winner of the SEC Baseball Tournament, the Southeastern Conference usually gets several at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Rivalries

Several baseball rivalries have developed in the SEC:

• LSU-Tulane

Historically these schools are arch-rivals, but following Tulane's decades long deemphasis of sports, this is the only sport in which the two schools are more evenly matched. On several occasions matchups between the two have drawn national record-setting attendances. Tulane reached its first College World Series in 2001 by defeating LSU in three games in the super regional at Zephyr Field.

• LSU-Mississippi State

Before the arrival of Skip Bertman as LSU's baseball coach in 1984, Mississippi State had long dominated the conference in baseball, with most of that success coming under legendary coach Ron Polk (who returned to coach the Bulldogs in 2002 after retiring following the 1997 season), who coached future MLB stars such as Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark and Jeff Brantley. But when Bertman arrived in Baton Rouge, LSU's long-dormant program took off, winning 11 SEC championships and five College World Series championships in 18 seasons from 1984 through 2001.

• South Carolina-North Carolina

To say that the two teams are familiar with each other would be an understatement as the Gamecocks and Tar Heels have met on the diamond four of the past six years. The 2002 NCAA Regional, 2003 NCAA Super Regional and 2004 NCAA Regional featured both schools against each other. South Carolina took two of three games over the Tar Heels to advance in the postseason in 2002, won both games in 2003 to reach the College World Series and won a pair of games in 2004 to go on to another NCAA Super Regional.

Other sports

Besides football, men's basketball, and baseball, there are a number of other sports in which the Southeastern Conference actively competes.

Rivalries

• Tennessee-UConn, women's basketball

The Lady Vols have historically been the nation's dominant program in that sport. Starting in the mid-1990s, UConn has emerged as Tennessee's main rival for national prominence. The Huskies won four national titles between 2000 and 2004; in three of those years, their victim in the NCAA final was Tennessee. Connecticut also defeated Tennessee in the 1995 Championship game, the Huskies' first-ever title.

• Alabama-Georgia, women's gymnastics

These two storied programs have often butted heads for not only SEC titles, but NCAA titles, as well. Georgia has won ten national championships to Alabama's four. For decades the rivalry was dominated by the two long standing coaches of the two schools, Suzanne Yoculan of Georgia and Sarah Patterson of Alabama. Yoculan has since retired bringing their personal rivalry to an end.

• Auburn-Texas, men's swimming and diving

One of the youngest rivalries featuring an SEC team, the Tigers and Texas Longhorns are the two most successful swimming and diving programs in the country. The two have combined for 17 NCAA National Titles since 1981 (9 for Texas, 8 for Auburn) and between 1999 and 2007 won every national title awarded. The two regularly face off in a meet during the regular season, Auburn's men own an 11-9 record over the Longhorns. The women just recently began an annual series, with the Tigers winning the series so far 2-1. Texas was the only team to beat the Auburn men between 2001 and 2007.

Schools ranked by endowment

University	Endowment as of 2008
Vanderbilt University	$3.48 billion
University of Florida	$1.21 billion
University of Alabama System	$1.00 billion
University of Arkansas	$876 million
University of Tennessee System	$867 million
University of Kentucky	$831 million
Louisiana State University System	$593 million
University of Georgia	$572 million
University of Mississippi	$495 million
University of South Carolina	$438 million
Auburn University	$378 million
Mississippi State University	$350.5 million [11694]

National championships

Since its founding in 1932, and the first full academic year of competition in 1933, SEC members have won a total of 161 team national championships.

Conference champions

The Southeastern Conference sponsors eight men's sports and ten women's sports, and awards a conference championship in every one of them.

See also

• List of Southeastern Conference Champions
• List of SEC National Champions
• List of SEC men's basketball tournament locations
• SEC Championship Game
• SEC Tournament
• SEC on CBS

Notes

References

1. []
2. About the Southeastern Conference
3. [1]
4. Sports Business Journal "ESPN pays $2.25B for SEC rights", Michael Smith and John Urand, August 25, 2008
5. [2]
6. [3]
7. [4]
8. SEC considering starting own TV network | TideSports.com
9. [5]
10. [6]
11. Stories of Character :: Celebrating 75 Years
12. www.secsports.com - SEC Members
13. Conference USA Official Athletic Site
14. www.secsports.com - SEC Football Scheduling Format
15. mcubed.net : NCAA Football : Series records
16. Ole Miss-Vanderbilt series record
17. LSU-Florida series record
18. Mississippi St.-Kentucky series record
19. Arkansas-South Carolina series record
20. Through the end of the completed 2008 season, the West leads the East 193 games to 175, with 21 ties.
21. All time Division I-A football records, College Football Data Warehouse
22. Totals & records following the completion of the 2008 season.
23. Alabama-Auburn series record
24. Alabama-LSU series record
25. Alabama-Ole Miss series record
26. Alabama-Tennessee series record
27. Arkansas-LSU series record
28. Arkansas-Texas series record
29. Arkansas-Texas A&M series record
30. Auburn-Georgia series record
31. Auburn-LSU series record
32. Florida-Florida State series record
33. Florida-Miami series record
34. Florida-Georgia series record
35. Florida-Tennessee series record
36. Georgia-Georgia Tech series record
37. Kentucky-Indiana series record
38. Kentucky-Louisville series record
39. LSU-Tulane series record
40. LSU-Ole Miss series record
41. Mississippi State-Ole Miss series record
42. Ole Miss-Arkansas series record
43. South Carolina-Clemson series record
44. South Carolina-Georgia series record
45. South Carolina-North Carolina series record
46. South Carolina-Tennessee series record
47. Tennessee-Kentucky series record
48. Vanderbilt-Tennessee series record
49. Mississippi State Alumnus:Fall 1999

External links

• Official Site of the Southeastern Conference
• Aerial and Satellite Photography of SEC Stadiums from SightseeBySpace.com