Roy Kramer, a former commissioner of the Southeastern Conference who turned it into a lucrative national power and, from that perch, transformed college football more broadly, helping to devise the Bowl Championship Series, a much-debated system for determining the national champion that endured for 16 years, died on Dec. 4 in Maryville, Tenn. He was 96.
His son, Steve, confirmed the death, in a hospital. Mr. Kramer lived nearby in Vonore, in eastern Tennessee.
Mr. Kramer, a championship-winning football coach who became college athletic director at Vanderbilt, was named commissioner of the SEC in 1990. During his 12 years at the helm, he engineered spectacular growth in revenue for the conference, derived from television rights — including a $1 billion blockbuster deal with CBS — bowl games and other income sources.