Texas AD pushing SEC to add 9th conference football game, and he might get it

As the debate continues around playing, or not playing, a ninth conference football game in the SEC, one of the league’s leading decision makers has made his views on the subject known.

Texas athletic director Chris Conte is all in favor of a ninth conference game, and the sooner the better.

“I prefer nine games,” Conte said at the 2025 Texas Athletics Town Hall.

“Why? Because we play Oklahoma at a neutral site. So one year, we get four games. One year, we get three. If we had a nine-game schedule, four and four, we’d play our rival at a neutral site.”

And he’s not afraid to use whatever pull he has in the room to make the SEC see the light.

“It’s like Bengay or the atomic bomb. I’m applying constant heat on this particular subject with our friends in the SEC, that we need a ninth game,” Conte said.

He added: “We’ll see if that happens, but we’re working towards that.”

The SEC has played eight conference football games since the 1992 season, although the addition of a ninth game has been gaining traction as a subject inside the league for the last three years.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said last summer that the conference would use the opportunity to examine how the first 12-team College Football Playoff panned out to judge whether adding the extra game would benefit the league and its members.

Arguments for and against adding another conference game have dominated the conversation across the SEC.

Those in favor believe another game would mean more revenue for schools and the conference and would allow schools to play more often in a league that has expanded to 16 members.

Those against another game contend that the SEC schedule is already the most difficult in college football and would be made tougher still by adding more to the plate.

There is also some concern that introducing another game would make it more difficult for some SEC teams to reach the required six victories needed to become eligible for a non-playoff bowl game.

Despite any concerns around adding another game, it appears the momentum inside the SEC is moving definitively towards introducing a ninth league game to the football schedule.

That became apparent after the SEC met with the Big Ten in a private conference to discuss using their newfound influence over the sport to more directly affect the shape and format of the College Football Playoff.

Part of that influence could find the SEC and Big Ten both advocating for their each receiving up to four automatic qualifiers in any new College Football Playoff after 2025.

And by being assured so many places in the postseason format, that would pave the way for the SEC to gain confidence in outweighing any perceived problems that would arise by adding another conference game to its schedule.

Those are questions the SEC will have on the table at their annual spring meetings, and it appears that conversation is only headed in one direction.

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