SEC Media Days Needs An Overhaul

It's time once again for the circus that is SEC Media Days, where 12 SEC coaches, 36 SEC players, legions of media, and throngs of fans show up and crowd the lobby of a hotel within a Hoover, Alabama shopping mall.

The SEC should have learned its lesson a long time ago. Fans should not be allowed to attend the event as it is presented today. With the sheer amount of people who descend upon the Wynfrey Hotel, there is certainly a fire code violation somewhere. Fans are sleeping on the lobby couches for up to three days, just hoping to shake hands with their favorite SEC coach or star player, and now we have people dressing up in costumes to attract media attention. It has become a huge joke, and it's impeding on the original purpose: to give the media a chance to preview the upcoming SEC football season.

It's high time the SEC made an event out of this. SEC Football is a cash cow. Move Media Days here to Nashville, put it at Gaylord Opryland or the new Music City Center. Call it the "SEC Kickoff" or something football-themed like that. Create a "fan zone", much like they have prior to the SEC Championship Game every December. Keep the fans away from the business side of the event, where the coaches meet with the media, but allow the coaches and players to meet and greet the fans at a specified area.

Holding it during the third week of July would allow fans from across the South to pile their kids into the minivan and make the trek to this centrally-located family destination as their yearly vacation, and take part in all kinds of football-themed events. The way this city knows how to throw a street festival (4th of July, CMA Fest), we can surely handle one more.

There might not be any actual football games to watch, but you can be sure the SEC would stand to gain a LOT of money from such an event. It would help to bring order to what is now a chaotic event, and give Nashville a nice tourism boost for a couple of days. By this time of year, everybody is ready for football season. Holding a football-themed family-oriented event is sure to be a homerun touchdown.

Mayor Dean and Nashville CVB chief Butch Spyridon should formally propose this to the conference. With dollar signs in his eyes, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive would be willing to listen.