The movement to ditch conference championship games in college football is getting stronger.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told USA Today that the “ship has sailed” regarding the SEC title game. That’s a strong opinion from the leader of an athletic department whose football team has made five SEC championship games since 2018 and won four of them.
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“I think the ship has sailed,” Byrne said. “It’s run its course.”
Byrne’s sentiment is hardly unique. Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger wrote all the way back in December of 2024 how the relevance of conference title games could be challenged in the era of the 12-team playoff. That story is looking more and more prescient now.
Especially if the playoff expands to 16 teams.
Though the SEC and the Big Ten are at a stalemate as to how to expand the 12-team playoff, it seems inevitable that it will get bigger at some point in the near future. And as the playoff grows, conference title games would be the likely victims.
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Conference championship games were established as a way for leagues to generate more money and add a marquee event at the end of the regular season. But there are myriad examples of top teams losing their chances at a national title with a conference title game loss — and there have been some playoff controversies too.
But if the playoff is going to get bigger, college football needs to figure out a way to condense the season. And dumping conference title games would be an easy way to do that.
The national championship game for the 2026 season isn’t going to be played until Jan. 25, 2027. That’s more than three weeks after the quarterfinals and seven weeks after conference title games take place. While the way the days fall on the calendar is the main culprit, almost everyone can agree that a week away from February is way too late to crown a national champion.
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Assuming the regular season still ends on the last weekend of November. A 16-team playoff could begin on the first weekend of December, or, at the latest, on the second weekend of the month. That would allow the semifinals to potentially be played over the New Year’s holiday and the season to end in the first two weeks of January.
Given Byrne’s comments, expect some changes to come sooner rather than later. While power conference title games aren’t in imminent danger, it’s easy to see a scenario where they no longer exist within five years.
