SEC Holds the Cards to 24-Team College Football Playoff

When it comes to whether the College Football Playoff will expand to 24 teams, the SEC holds all the cards.

The commissioners of the Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 have all recently expressed support for the 24-team model. Now, the decision rests with the SEC, which will convene for its annual spring meetings in Destin, Fla., next week, where the topic is expected to be a major agenda item.

All FBS leagues are theoretically entitled to provide input. But thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed in 2024, the SEC and Big Ten must agree on a format for expansion to take place.

So far, that hasn’t happened. Over the past year, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has been pushing for the 24-team model, while SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has held firm on 16 teams. Petitti’s idea has gained steam in recent weeks, as the ACC and Big 12 have come out in favor of it. 

The two biggest selling points for the 24-team model: access and revenue. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, for example, said on the Big 12 Today podcast this week that he favored the concept for the extra opportunities for teams to participate in the postseason, and that he specifically believed the setup would benefit the Big 12. The model would also theoretically increase the media-rights revenue exponentially for all—including the Group of 6 conferences, who will receive significantly fewer annual distributions than those in the Power 4.

However, Sankey has continued to reiterate concerns about how an expanded Playoff might affect the regular season. One major question, for example, is whether conference title games—which bring in millions of dollars in revenue for multiple leagues—would be eliminated.

“At any level of expansion, there will be games that didn’t matter in a smaller number that now matter in a bigger number,” Sankey said earlier this month. “But there’s another side to that coin where the next-to-last weekend [of the regular season]—that, right now, is critically important—might not matter in the same way [in a 24-team Playoff].”

There are other scheduling considerations, too, including what an expanded Playoff model would mean for the future of the Army-Navy football game. President Donald Trump even signed an executive order in March to prevent early-round CFP games from coinciding with the matchup.

As of now, SEC coaches and ADs are split on the issue, according to a CBS Sports survey. But even if the group can reach a consensus next week in Destin, expansion wouldn’t take place immediately. ESPN, the main rights holder for the entire CFP, gave the league a Dec. 1 deadline to decide on expansion, which wouldn’t take place until 2027–28 at the earliest. 

The Big Ten, meanwhile, remains staunchly in favor of 24 teams—and is not in a rush to implement a plan before that Dec. 1 deadline. 

“If we have to wait, it’s O.K. We’ll wait,” Petitti said at Big Ten meetings this week.