SEC, Big Ten Will Soon Let Everyone Else Know Role in College Football

Guarantees for both conferences straightest line to locking up much needed money

Arkansas Razorbacks running back Braylen Russell (0) rushes in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Volunteers at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Arkansas won 19-14. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Today is supposedly the day the SEC and Big Ten get together to decide the fate of college football and how much of a part they are willing to allow other conferences to have.

The biggest point is how to maximize money for the sports' two biggest brands. Right now, with donors exhausted from constantly being begged for money to line the pockets of players through NIL and to build the $20+ million war chest needed for when revenue sharing kicks in later this year, the two conferences need to find a way to increase guaranteed money.

The best way to do that is through television revenue, and with traditional television networks struggling to adapt to a world that long left behind the old model of entertainment, increased money is only going to come with a premium product. In short, the two conferences have to find a way to put on bigger games.

The problem with that is the current playoff model doesn't allow for that sort of risk taking. While networks want to see a full slate of high profile games, coaches in the SEC and Big Ten don't want to sabotage themselves by stacking the deck against their teams even more than they already are.

That's why there will be a massive shift in how the playoff spots are going to be handed out. As of Wednesday morning, most talks have swirled around two major changes expected to begin in 2026.

The first, which has been no secret, is the SEC and Big Ten want four guaranteed spots in the playoffs each. For those doing the math, that only leaves room for four other teams between the independents, the ACC, Big 12 and other conferences.

It's not something they're willing to go for, but keep in mind that both the SEC and Big Ten are willing to take their ball and go create their own organization for college athletics if everyone else isn't willing to play along. It's an approach to business perfected by new SEC members Texas and Oklahoma a long time ago.

That being said, the two conferences understand there is value in college football tradition, so there is a plan to appease the rest of the NCAA members. At the moment, that is likely to come in the form of expanding the playoffs to 16 teams.

The SEC and Big Ten get a guarantee to make up at least half the field and the rest is divided up between whoever else is deemed worthy. Common sense says the ACC and Big 12 get a pair of automatic bids each while the four remaining spots are given to the remaining four highest ranked teams, but there has been no indication that has been discussed at all.

The reason this is happening is because the SEC and Big Ten need a way to get more big games on television without being punished in the national championship race. The SEC wants to play nine. games, but right now that makes no sense as it would decrease access to the playoffs and bowl games, all of which bring money.

There is also a desire for the Big Ten and SEC to play crossover games each year, slowly laying the foundation for a possible joint future in 2031 where both will have the option to scoop up the best remaining teams outside of their leagues when TV contracts for the playoffs and other leagues expire.

If playoff spots are determined solely on conference standings, the pressure to avoid potential playoff killing losses with more big out of conference games goes away. Now teams like Arkansas, Florida and Alabama can play a Notre Dame and Penn State without concern of big picture impact.

While the format creates incentive to give television partners the biggest games possible to feed their viewers each Saturday, it also provides a potential off-ramp to another problem that popped up this past season. In the current 12-team format, it often hurts teams to go to their conference championship game.

However, with four guaranteed spots, the Big Ten and SEC can get rid of their conference championship games, avoiding punishing their top two representatives. On its face, that doesn't seem like a good way of appealing to TV executives, but it will.

See, instead of a conference championship game that carries little to no weight, it opens the door to give networks a pair of games each from the Big Ten and SEC. League champions and the runner-up get to avoid possible injuries and are rewarded with the league's top two bids.

Meanwhile, the conferences get to offer networks a play-in game between each league's No. 3 and No. 6 team and the No. 4 and No. 5 finisher to claim the final two playoff spots. Now that's high drama that also keeps four more fan bases in each conference highly engaged and pulls in millions of viewers from other markets.

Whether those games will be in neutral sites like Atlanta or Dallas remains to be seen. If those two higher seeds are going to have to put their playoff spot on the line after earning it all season, it might be a good political move to at least have the game on campus.

Right now, there's nothing official. It's all just very loud rumblings.

The one thing we know for sure is the SEC and Big Ten will let everyone else know their plan for how they intend to run college football some time between now and the next week. And there's nothing anyone can do about it,.

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