Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson’s Address At Media Day [VIDEO]

Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson kicked off Sun Belt Media Day by giving his State of the Conference address.

According to Benson, the Sun Belt is not only succeeding and growing but doing so in rapid fashion. The current television deal with ESPN is leading to a lot of recognition and attention for the conference, and Benson doesn't mind the spotlight.

"The Sun Belt future is bright, so I am still wearing shades," Benson joked in his opening statement.

There were several elephants in the room to address, namely the addition of a twelfth conference member and the possibility of creating a conference championship game. Benson didn't bite on the new member questions, aside from acknowledging that another team would clearly be nice. When it came to the addition of bowl games, the information flowed a bit more freely.

After expanding the Sun Belt tie-ins to four automatic bids, Benson said their real goal was to reach five. They tried to make something happen in Austin in Little Rock, but things couldn't get figured out.

"We thought we were going to get to number five," Benson said.

When it comes to a conference championship game, Benson said the universities are still "mixed" in their opinions on the topic. Ultimately, the commissioner just wants his conference to keep up.

"Right now, in the system that we have, competition with our peer conferences is so important."

Benson made his statement and then answered a number of questions regarding scheduling, the college football playoff and the topics mentioned above, while also sprinkling in some academic and off-the-field accomplishments. He only gets to make a State of the Conference address so often, so soak up every minute of this.