SEC One Step Closer to Football Schedule Format Decision

SEC athletic directors meet next week in what could be another step toward resolving the league’s future scheduling format, though a final decision isn’t expected for another month.

The in-person meeting comes about four weeks before conference athletic administrators and presidents gather in Destin, Fla., for their annual spring meetings, at which point commissioner Greg Sankey is hopeful a decision will be made.

“We need to make a decision, I would hope by Destin,” Sankey said Thursday from CFP meetings in suburban Dallas. “Eventually, we have to vote.”

League officials have been engrossed in dialogue for more than a year over the scheduling format once Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC in 2024. Of more than 40 different models, the conference has narrowed to two division-less formats: (1) an eight-game schedule with seven rotational and one permanent opponent; and (2) a nine-game schedule with six rotational and three permanent opponents.

League administrators are believed to be split on the issue—a divide that, for the most part, is along revenue-generating lines. Many of the conference’s smaller-budget schools are in favor of remaining at eight games, and many of the bigger-budget programs support a move to nine.

But there are outliers. Alabama coach Nick Saban is in favor of the eight-game model, he told Sports Illustrated during an interview in March. The model provides a more “balanced” format as opposed to the nine-game format, which calls for each team to have three permanent opponents. Saban took issue with the three permanent opponents the SEC suggested for Alabama (Tennessee, Auburn and LSU). In choosing three permanent opponents for each team, the SEC is using historic rivalries, geography and a 10-year success metric. Based on conversations with those within the league, SI projected each team’s three permanents.

This week, Sankey said not every school has made a decision on a format. The league office has worked to provide materials, data and analysis to assist athletic directors in their decision, which Sankey said is part of the league’s “regulatory structure” and thus must be approved through a conference vote of the 14 members. Texas and Oklahoma do not receive a vote, though their school administrators have been heavily involved in the scheduling discussions.

On such a change as this, the normal protocol is for the conference athletic directors to make a recommendation to the presidents, who would then cast an official vote—something that could happen in Destin.

But it is no easy issue. The eight-versus-nine debate runs deep, with tentacles that touch the league’s future sole broadcasting partner, ESPN. Many within the conference are seeking additional revenue from the network if the SEC were to add a ninth conference game. The issue comes at an interesting time. ESPN is in the midst of several rounds of layoffs, and, presumably, is poised to spend millions or billions bidding on a new expanded CFP. ESPN’s deal with the NBA also comes up soon.

There are also other matters. The SEC currently requires schools to play a minimum of one nonconference game against a Power 5 team. Would that requirement remain under a nine-game format?

But while an eight-game format preserves primary rivalry games like Alabama-Auburn, Ole Miss–Mississippi State and Oklahoma-Texas, it would bring an end to several secondary rivalries like Auburn-Georgia, Alabama-Tennessee and Texas–Texas A&M. In an eight-game format, those games would be played biannually. A nine-game format brings an extra loss for half of the conference. The CFP expands to 12 teams starting in 2024, but bowl eligibility will remain at 6–6.

“We were asked [by athletic directors] on a video conference … help us think about what this means for bowl eligibility based on the two different formats and help us know what this means for CFP access,” Sankey said. “We’ve gone back to help our ADs think through the decision-making.”

The decision is a long time coming. The league was prepared to vote last May at spring meetings before delaying the decision because of a host of factors. It wanted more time to examine the tiebreaker structure, which looms as a significant piece of a new format. Without divisions, the teams with the top two records in a 16-team conference will meet in the championship game.

Conference leaders were also waiting for news on the implementation year of the expanded CFP, which came last fall. In February, the final hurdle was crossed when the Big 12 struck a deal to release Texas and Oklahoma a year earlier than expected.

“We were ready to make a decision and then took a step back. I think that’s proven to have been really, really wise,” Sankey said.