The Southeastern Conference announced plans for a 10-game conference-only football schedule this fall. Normally an 8-game conference slate, the SEC will start Sept. 26 and add two conference games because of the coronavirus pandemic. A conference championship game will be held Dec. 19 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, two weeks later than scheduled.
Even with a season, Power 5 schools are expected to lose an average of $18.6 million in ticket sales. But playing will be critical for the SEC schools to maintain their TV payouts, which made up a large chunk of the $44.6 million distributed to each program last year. Seventy percent of 116 college athletics administrators believe they will lose at least 20% of their revenue in the 2020-21 school year.
Just one conference has yet to make its announcement — the Big 12 — after the ACC made its 11-game schedule public on Wednesday. Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said this week the Power 5 Conference schedules “don’t have to be identical.”
Power 5 Conference Plans:
— Big 12: Have yet to announce
— ACC: 11-game schedule with one non-conference game
— Big 10: 10-game conference-only
— Pac-12: 10-game conference-only
