HOOVER, Ala. — Mike Slive props his feet on the coffee table in his office, leans back in his chair and gets comfortable.

The Southeastern Conference commissioner has several reasons to be so relaxed on a recent midsummer morning. For one, the league secured 15-year television deals with CBS and ESPN, a few months before the economy was officially declared in recession.
That means a potential $100 million boost next year after the league raked in a record $132.5 million in revenue for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
The SEC also enters football media days, which run Wednesday through Friday, having won the national championship three years running. Plus, those bickering, finger-pointing SEC coaches seem to have behaved since Slive gave them a talking-to at the spring meetings.
The SEC is also hoping to launch a Web site soon taking advantage of the digital rights preserved in negotiations with ESPN and CBS for games those networks broadcast. The commissioner said that could happen as soon as August or September.
“We anticipate bringing those negotiations to a successful conclusion very soon,” Slive said.
It’s a good position to be in, with major conferences like the ACC bracing for a tough negotiating climate. The Atlantic Coast Conference TV deals expire after the 2010-11 season.
“I’m glad that those issues are not my issues,” Slive said.
He said SEC officials wanted to get the new deals signed last summer given the state of the economy.
“It did two things for us: We were fortunate to get out ahead of the recession, but it also gave us a year — which is what we knew we needed — to implement the broad scope of what we’ve accomplished through the negotiations,” he said. “And it’s taken all of a year. It’s a significant undertaking to implement all the different platforms that these negotiations have made possible for us.”
All has not been completely rosy during the league’s offseason.
The normally mild-mannered, diplomatic Slive chastised coaches for a string of public exchanges mostly involving new Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin. The Vols coach has taken shots at several SEC peers, including Florida’s Urban Meyer — who he called a “cheater” on national signing day — Alabama’s Nick Saban and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier.
Now, those coaches will have an audience that includes nearly 1,000 reporters, corporate sponsors, bowl officials — and a commissioner hoping they don’t make any inflammatory remarks.
“I will watch with interest, particularly after my discussion — with quote marks — with the coaches in Destin,” Slive said.
Does he believe they got the message or has the verbal cease-fire had more to do with vacations and lack of media availability?
“I think they did,” Slive said. “I’ll be able to confirm that or not confirm that on Friday.”
The opening day highlights include the media days debut of new Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen. Day 2 brings Florida and quarterback Tim Tebow, along with other league powers Alabama and Georgia and Mississippi, facing higher than usual expectations. Tebow, Ole Miss’s Jevan Snead and Matthew Stafford’s successor at Georgia, Joe King, are the only quarterbacks any of the 12 SEC teams are bringing along.
The event wraps up Friday with Kiffin, new Auburn coach Gene Chizik, South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier and LSU’s Les Miles.
What the event presumably won’t include: Subpoenas. Then-Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was handed one when he arrived last year to testify in a former Alabama booster’s lawsuit against the NCAA stemming from a decade-old recruiting scandal.