Overview
- The SEC said Kramer died Thursday in Vonore, Tennessee, at age 96, as Commissioner Greg Sankey issued a statement lauding his impact on college sports.
- Serving as SEC commissioner from 1990 to 2002, he expanded the league by adding Arkansas and South Carolina to reach 12 members and enable a divisional structure.
- He launched the SEC Championship Game in 1992, the first at the Division I-A level and a model that other conferences later adopted.
- Kramer helped design the Bowl Championship Series and coordinated it from 1995 to 1999, a bridge that led to the modern College Football Playoff.
- He brokered landmark TV deals with CBS and ESPN, helping grow SEC distributions from $16.3 million in 1990 to $95.7 million by 2002, with far larger sums in subsequent years.