NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Do the SEC and Big Ten want this current 12-team College Football Playoff format to continue beyond next season?
Neither conference executive would answer that question Thursday.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey offered two words in response to a question about whether he wants to continue this format beyond next season.
“We’ll see,” Sankey said.
Commissioners and athletic directors from the Big Ten and SEC met Thursday for a summit to discuss topics including the future format of the playoff, the possibility of more Big Ten vs. SEC non-conference matchups and the implications of the House legal settlement that will unlock revenue sharing for athletes.
The commissioners had a lot to say about private equity, with both Sankey and fellow Big Ten player Tony Petitti blasting the idea of outside investors taking the reins on the direction of college football.
They had much less to say about their preference for the playoff format, but their meeting and subsequent remarks amounted to a showdown that could be interpreted as follows: Either the playoff committee rewards the Big Ten and SEC with a significant number of at-large bids, or Sankey and Petitti could pull out their collective sledgehammer and crush this format.“Who qualifies, how does the committee assess the strength of the schedule,” Petitti said, of what he will be watching closely during this season’s playoff process.
The current playoff format guarantees automatic bids for the top five conference champions. The remaining seven playoff spots are determined via at-large selection by a 13-member selection committee.
“I want to see what happens with the evaluation (of those at-large bids),” Sankey said.
Teams seeded Nos. 5 through 8 will host first-round games. The top four conference champions will receive a bye.
This format guarantees participation from at least five conferences, but it does not guarantee more than one bid to a conference. Mathematically, a conference can qualify up to eight teams, but a conference that qualifies a maximum of four or five teams seems like a more realistic ceiling.
This format has been approved for this season and next. After next season, the format could change. The future format will not have a field smaller than 12 teams, but it could have more. And the way bids are awarded could also evolve.
“Our focus on the future format will come after we get through this first cycle of the expanded College Football Playoff,” Sankey said.
The Big Ten and SEC do not have unilateral control over the playoff format, but they do wield the biggest sticks in determining the direction of the playoff.
“We do have a defined role where we have to be clear participants at the end of the conversation,” Sankey said, regarding the Big Ten and SEC’s role in influencing the future playoff format.
And, at least from the looks of things Thursday, the leaders of these two conferences plan to be united, since they have the final say in determining the future playoff format.
Representatives from other conferences were not present at Thursday’s summit. Sankey emphasized that the SEC and Big Ten are not working toward complete separation from the other conferences.
“I think that’s a perception that’s been created,” Sankey said. “… We recognize that we’re part of a larger ecosystem, but we’re also interested in what we can accomplish together.”
And together, they could bend the future playoff format to something more to their liking, if they decide they want a change.
Historically, the SEC and Big Ten haven’t played many nonconference football games, but that’s changing. This season, the conferences have four nonconference matchups. Three were played on campus, while LSU and Southern California faced off in Las Vegas.
Three games are scheduled for 2025, with Oklahoma hosting Michigan, Ohio State traveling to Texas and Wisconsin visiting Alabama after playing the Crimson Tide at home this season. Five Big Ten vs. SEC games are scheduled for 2026. Sankey and Petitti appear to be interested in increasing the number of Big Ten vs. SEC matchups. Nonconference games between teams from those conference superpowers typically draw big television ratings.
Such matchups also collectively increase the strength of each conference’s schedule.
Four SEC schools play annual rival games against ACC opponents: Florida-Florida State, South Carolina-Clemson, Kentucky-Louisville and Georgia-Georgia Tech. Sankey acknowledged those existing nonconference matchups and indicated he had no desire to interrupt those series.
“We respect where we have intrastate rivalries that are happening in nonconference scheduling,” Sankey said, “but we had a real general conversation about the what-ifs in football and basketball.”
The commissioners also discussed the possibility of increasing the number of Big Ten vs. SEC games in sports other than football and basketball.
Traditionally, individual school athletic department officials have autonomy over nonconference football scheduling, but Petitti and Sankey are evaluating whether conference offices should get involved in making Big Ten vs. SEC games happen.
“The conversation is, is there a structure where the two league offices work together to create more of those games?” Petitti said, without answering his own question.
As with the playoff format conversation, the answer seems to be: We’ll see.