SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is now in favor of a nine-game conference schedule moving forward.
However, Sankey has one caveat: An expanded conference schedule should not impact the SEC teams’ chances in the College Football Playoff. The conference, which has 16 members, has debated expanding to an additional conference game in years past, especially with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 last year.
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The merits of an eight vs nine-game schedule became a topic of debate after the former Big 12 bluebloods joined the SEC, with legacy matchups being a point of contention. Ultimately, the conference decided to keep the eight-game format for the time being while doing away with the conference’s divisions, but it did not close the door on a nine-game schedule in the future.
While Sankey has privately voiced support for a nine-game conference schedule behind the scenes, according to The Athletic, he confirmed on an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network on Monday that how the conference performs in getting to the College Football Playoff harmed progress to already expanding to nine games. The SEC had three teams out of 12 reach the first CFP last season due to the committee prioritizing losses.
“One of the issues in the room for our athletics directors is what seemed to matter most, is the number to the right, the number of losses. And how do we understand what that means for our schedule moving forward?” Sankey said. “I’m one who said I really think we ought to be trying to move towards a nine-game conference schedule. I think that can be positive for a lot of reasons. You watch the interest around conference games.
“But not if that causes us to lose opportunities.”
Sankey added he wants to keep games of “high interest” on the SEC team’s schedule. He also expressed disappointment in Nebraska and Wake Forest canceling future games with Tennessee and Ole Miss, respectively.
“I’d like to see us play more of these high-profile games. Both within the conference and outside the conference,” Sankey said. “But we have to recognize the CFP selection process is an important governing factor, or decision-making factor, that contributes to the eventual outcomes of whether it’s non conference games or whether it’s the number of games played within conferences.”
The decision of expanding to nine games from the current eight could come down to whether the SEC and Big Ten get guaranteed playoff bids in a new CFP format. The potential idea of a 14-team playoff field where each conference would get four guaranteed bids has received a lot of blowback.
Sankey referred to the “bids” as “allocations.” He acknowledged the idea has received considerable criticism and said no decision is imminent.
“Have our athletics directors joined in conversation about more allocations, whether you want to call that automatic bids? Sure,” Sankey said. “They’ve also talked about ideas of evaluating strength of schedule and trying to better understand how that analysis is made.
“I think we should probably slow down a little bit it jumping to conclusions, because there’s a lot to a lot of work to do in a short period of time, whether it be our scheduling decisions or discussions about the future College Football Playoff.”
No format is set for the 2026 season and beyond for a conference schedule. Just as a coin flip determined the winner of the women’s SEC regular championship between South Carolina and Oklahoma, Sankey joked that a coin flip could determine whether the schedule expands to nine games.
“Maybe we’ll flip a coin over eight or nine,” Sankey said with a smile. “We’ve got some practice.”
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Greg Sankey open to 9-game SEC conference schedule, but has CFP demand
