SEC again considering nine-game league schedule weighing revenue, College Football Playoff access

DESTIN, Fla. – The SEC is again contemplating an expanded football conference schedule with the goal of increasing revenue as the entire college athletics enterprise faces new financial challenges. While the SEC has already decided to hold eight-game schedules for the next two seasons, several programs originally against the prospect of increasing schedules are more open than ever to the concept of playing nine league games starting in 2026, sources told CBS Sports.

The motivation to add a ninth SEC game comes as major college athletics is set to institute a new revenue-sharing program with players as early as fall 2025. Expenses are estimated at about $30 million annually and as such, programs are struggling to find new pockets of revenue.

The SEC nearly pushed for a nine-game vote last year at its annual spring meetings in Destin. Instead, last fall it opted to dissolve the conference’s divisions and adopt a new eight-game schedule for the 2024 and 2025 seasons as new members Texas and Oklahoma joined the conference.

Discussions reopened earlier this month between SEC leadership and broadcast partner ESPN. The Disney-owned network has told SEC leaders that eight additional games in its media package could bring in nearly $5 million per school year, but several SEC athletic directors believe they could receive a bigger payday, sources tell CBS Sports .

The value could fluctuate, as ESPN holds the broadcast rights to all non-conference home games that could be canceled in favor of an expanded league schedule. Would Arkansas’ home game against Notre Dame in 2025 be less valuable compared to the ninth SEC game? Fewer non-conference games, depending on their strength, could reduce total additional revenue per school to less than $2 million per school, an industry source told CBS Sports.

“There are always factors. There’s a lot more than money involved,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “We don’t always do things, despite what people say, for the money.”

Conference scheduling was not on the agenda for this week’s SEC spring meetings, although athletic directors and presidents discussed the topic extensively in the hallways. Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek has been the most vocal opponent of an expanded conference schedule, but told 247Sports on Thursday that he is more willing to listen and potentially side with a nine-game format following recent developments.

Sankey said last year that the SEC was “very close” to making a decision. At the time, he hinted that a vote would take place soon. “I would prefer not to continue traveling around the airport with the plane. I’d rather land it,” he said last May. A simple majority was needed to approve the measure, but it was never voted on.

Among the factors the SEC is evaluating is how the expanded College Football Playoff will treat leagues with nine conference games (Big Ten, Big 12) compared to those with eight (SEC, ACC). Several SEC programs have scheduled several non-conference games against Power Four opponents to bolster their playoff resumes. Among them is Alabama, which will face two power conference opponents each year for the next 10 seasons.

The expanded 12-team playoff, which begins in 2024, will be comprised of the five highest-seeded conference champions and the next seven highest-seeded overall teams. That model is in place through the 2025 season, but leaders are seriously considering expanding the field to 14 teams with 10 automatic qualifiers awarded to major conferences — Big Ten (3), SEC (3), ACC (2), Big 12 (2) – and a bid reserved for the highest-ranked Group of Five champion. That would leave just three at-large selections.

“We can’t delay,” Sankey said Thursday. “We’ll have, at most, one set of data on how the committee evaluates the 12-team selection for the playoffs. We have five allocations for the conference champions. That’s the next seven spots – in that range of 10, 11, 12 – – that That’s what matters most. I think we have the opportunity to learn a little bit from this, but it’s just a given and it’s a topic of conversation about how we move forward.”

To further complicate matters, the CFP likely won’t decide whether to expand to 14 teams and restructure its selection process until January, meaning the SEC will also likely wait until spring 2025 to make a decision on its own schedule. Sankey joined Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark this week in supporting delaying the decision until the conclusion of the first 12-team playoff in January.

“We have worked very hard for a long time to get to 12 teams and we are excited,” said CFP Board Chairman Mark Keenum, who is also the president of Mississippi State. “…I know there’s a lot of talk about 14 or something like that. Well, let’s give it a chance to see how we do with 12 and evaluate everything. Obviously, with all the changes going on in athletics and college football, we can evaluate , see playoff success over the next few years and then make some decisions.”

If the SEC moves to a nine-game league schedule, significant restructuring will be required with adjustments made to non-conference agreements. At least nine games spread among six SEC teams would need to be canceled to accommodate a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2026.

Florida has scheduled four non-conference games in 2026 and has constructed arguably the toughest schedule among its peers, with three non-conference games against Power Four opponents in four of the next six seasons. Georgia, Missouri and Ole Miss have fully booked their schedules with four non-conference games in multiple years beyond 2026.

“We have some time, but not much,” Sankey said. “It’s not immediate; we have some more immediate problems.”