Greg Sankey Sends Strong Message Amid 24-Team CFP Debate During SEC Media Days

The College Football Playoff format fight followed Greg Sankey right to the podium on Monday, and the SEC commissioner made no attempt to dodge it.

Opening the first day of SEC Media Days, Sankey poured cold water on the 24-team playoff concept that has dominated offseason conversation, and he did it with a specificity that suggests his position has hardened in recent months rather than softened.

"We don't have any idea in the (clear interests of the media) in an expanded playoff. We do know what happened when we went to 12," Sankey said, per On3's Brett McMurphy. "Second, the calendar is challenging. You have to find places to play the game. The access point is important."

That is not a new argument from the Birmingham-based commissioner, but the SEC Media Days audience gives it new weight.

SEC’s Greg Sankey on considering 24-team playoff: “We don’t have any idea in the clear media interests in an expanded playoff. We do know what happened when we went to 12. Second, the calendar is challenging. You have to find places to play the game. The access point is…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 20, 2026

Back in April, Sankey told Paul Finebaum that "we have to do the homework" before expanding again, and at spring meetings in May, he stated that college football "isn't a tournament sport."

Monday's remarks confirm that months of lobbying from the Big Ten, which has pushed the 24-team model and pulled the ACC and Big 12 along with it, have not moved him an inch.

Greg Sankey says SEC breakaway frustrations are real

Sankey also aired out a grievance that should concern the sport's power brokers. Asked about his confidence that the selection committee is properly weighing SEC scheduling, he described a meeting that clearly still bothers him.

"We had what I would call an unsatisfactory conversation with College Football Playoff staff (at spring meetings). We have questions about their understanding the strength (of the SEC)," Sankey said.

Then came the answer that will generate headlines all week. Asked whether talk of the SEC breaking away from the CFP structure was real or a negotiating ploy, Sankey did not blink.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey continues to pound the table against a playoff expansion. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"They're real," he said. "The frustrations (for some) that bring them to the point of saying we should look at something significantly different."

What makes his stance credible rather than stubborn is that the SEC is not arguing from weakness. The commissioner noted Monday that his football programs averaged more than 80,000 fans per game last season.

"That's the highest average attendance for any sports league in the world," Sankey said. He also framed the league's scheduling philosophy as a feature, not a burden. "No one has created the weekly competition that exists in the Southeastern Conference. We believe we're the best conference in college football," he said.

Coaches remain split on 24-team College Football Playoff expansion

The national playoff conversation gets complicated because Sankey's own league is not unified behind him.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the spring that "I think 24 teams is good for the fan bases," and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel told On3 that "the way college football is constantly changing, that probably makes the most sense" when asked about a 24-team field.

Two of the conference's most prominent sideline voices are effectively arguing the Big Ten's case.

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart, a leading voice in the SEC and college football, supports an expanded playoff. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Urban Meyer, a three-time national champion head coach, has been blunt about where the line sits. "I think 24 is too much. You start dipping down into the teams that have very mediocre years, and they should not be in the playoffs," Meyer said.

Georgia president Jere Morehead has called a 24-team bracket a mistake, and playoff expansion cannot happen without the SEC and Big Ten agreeing on a number.

Sankey's playoff commentary doubled as a mission statement, "We're not interested in finding the easiest path, we are focused on finding the right path," he said.

With a nine-game SEC schedule set to begin this fall and no format agreement in place beyond the current 12-team structure, the gap between the sport's two most powerful conferences remains the defining story of the 2026 offseason.

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