SEC Commissioner Doubles Down on Opposition to College Football Playoff Expansion

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey isn't budging on the College Football Playoff. He still wants a 16-team field. He still doesn't want 24.

Speaking Monday at the APSE Southeast Region meeting at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Sankey laid out why a bigger bracket worries him, even as the Big Ten and a growing chorus of coaches push to double the current 12-team format.

His resistance comes with a notable wrinkle. Sankey supports expanding the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments from 68 teams to 76 starting in 2026-27, even as fans and analysts pan that move as a money grab.

Why Sankey is fighting the 24-team CFP model

Sankey's central argument centers on what he calls the "tipping point," where extra playoff spots begin hollowing out the relevance of November football.

"To me, there is a tipping point in November where a game like I just described, that goes from, 'Hey, we're at 6-2 hanging on for dear life, we really don't have a chance at a four-team playoff but you've been brought into it in the 12 team playoff,' can go the other way, where a team two weeks out is in and feels good about hosting or not hosting depending on how large you go," he said, per 247Sports.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer — Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer (10) and his Sooners were mentioned as a positive example of why the shift from a four-team playoff to a 12-team playoff was a good decision. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

He pointed to Oklahoma last season as the sweet spot. The Sooners dropped to No. 18 after losing to Ole Miss in October, then ripped off four straight wins to grab the No. 8 seed.

"We're open to the conversation, but there are a lot of ideas out there that have to be supported with analysis and information, not speculation," Sankey said.

What the SEC stands to lose with a 24-team bracket

Here's the irony. The 12-team era has not been kind to Sankey's conference, which makes resistance to further expansion harder to read as purely competitive.

The Big Ten has won three straight national titles. Ohio State and Indiana captured the last two under the 12-team format, and Michigan won it all in 2023, the final year of the four-team format. The SEC sits at a combined 5-8 in CFP games over the past two seasons.

Through the American Football Coaches Association, Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart signaled is in favor of expansion, whether 16 or 24 teams. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Tennessee athletics director Danny White and SEC coaches, including Kirby Smart, Josh Heupel, Eliah Drinkwitz and Will Stein, have backed the 24-team idea. Heupel's case is telling. Tennessee would have qualified for a 24-team field three straight years from 2022 through 2024.

Sankey's pitch reads less like protecting the regular season and more like protecting the SEC brand. A wider door means more Big Ten and Big 12 traffic walking through it.

A decision on the 2027 format must be reached by Dec. 1.

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