Greg Sankey: No Decision on CFP Expansion Expected at SEC Spring Meetings

DESTIN, FLA. — Standing at the podium on the eve of SEC spring meetings, with rain pounding the beaches outside, commissioner Greg Sankey joked that the day before the annual event used to be calm and quiet. A few reporters would gather to discuss meetings that mostly flew under the radar.

But this year, the air was anything but calm. More than 20 reporters gathered for a rather formal press conference in a small theater at the Hilton resort. “If you can overhype a spring meeting, I think that successfully happened,” he said.

The source of the anticipation: The SEC might now be the lone holdout in expanding the College Football Playoff to 24 teams. 

Last week, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti appeared to draw a line in the sand, saying the league is in agreement to vote on a 24-team field, and that they’re willing to wait if the SEC doesn’t agree. (The ACC and Big 12 commissioners have since come out in favor as well.) Sankey, however, has favored 16. The two commissioners must come to an agreement by Dec. 1 for the Playoff to expand in 2027-28. 

But on Monday, Sankey told reporters not to expect the league to reach a consensus this week. “So you can tamp that down,” he said of the headlines.

Ultimately, he said, his goal for administrators in Destin this week was to “fulfill our leadership responsibility to understand.” In other words: study. To do so, executive director Rich Clark will pay SEC administrators a visit, Sankey said, to go over models in more depth.

For about 15 minutes, Sankey fielded questions about the merits of the 16- versus 24-team format. He said this week the conference will study multiple aspects of the 24-team bracket, including its impact on the regular season. For example, will the expanded field lower the value of certain teams’ late-season games when there are more slots? Conversely, would it give other teams’ games more meaning if they’re now potentially included in the expanded field?

Sankey did, however, reiterate his personal commitment to the SEC Championship Game. The comments were significant at a time when others have suggested potentially nixing conference championships to make more room for an expanded bracket. But they also reflect a financial reality for top conferences like the SEC: There’s lots of value in a championship game, and it’s not necessarily worth giving that up for an expanded playoff.

At one point, he gave a brief history lesson, quizzing reporters on why the CFP expanded from four teams to 12 in the first place in 2022 (the reasons included existing media rights and bowl game contracts, according to Sankey). But he noted there wasn’t one specific factor that pushed FBS leagues to agree to 12 at the time—and suggested that would probably be the case in the next phase of expansion.

Future Governance Questions

Another source of anticipation for this year’s spring meetings: the future of college sports governance. 

Last week, Georgia president Jere Morehead set off a firestorm when he expressed frustration with lack of movement over a congressional bill to govern college sports. (The comments came on the heels of the SCORE Act vote being canceled yet again.) Morehead said the SEC should be able to take matters into its own hands. 

“If we don’t get federal intervention, in my opinion, we are going to have to do this conference by conference,” Morehead said. “We can’t allow the Wild West to continue any longer. So I’m prepared to—next week in Destin—to be ready to vote on creating an SEC mechanism and SEC rules if that’s what we have to do if Congress isn’t going to act as they should.”

Sankey downplayed the idea, saying the league discusses and votes on rule changes every year at these meetings. He noted a few of interest, like the “age-based” eligibility model the NCAA is considering. But he declined to say what specific bylaws might be put to a vote.