Atlanta – In 2026, the clock lasts at the time limit of December 1 to set a format for the college football playoffs and in 2026, SEC Commissioner Greg Sanki reiterated the possibility that it could live in 12 teams if their league and Big Ten cannot agree whether the model would be best.
Sankke said that he and the Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti spoke four out of five days last week and accepted the “separate scene” of the SEC coming out of his spring meetings in Destin, Florida. While Big Ten has favored a model, which rewards conferences with guaranteed spots and play-in games to determine them, SEC coaches recently said that they would now prefer a 16-team format that includes five highest ranked conference champions and 11-big bids.
“Big Ten has a different view,” Sanki said after her initial comment on the first day of SEC media days in the College Football Hall of Fame. “That’s fine. We have 12-Team Playoffs, five conference champions. If we cannot agree then it can live.”
Prior to the deal of a new media rights with ESPN in March 2024, nine FBS Commissioners and Notre Dame Leadership had to signed a memorandum to understand a memorandum earlier, which was mentioned in comprehensive terms that look like the next contract. Sanki said that the document gives Big Ten and SEC to control the future format of the playoffs. This is a compromise that some have been interrogated privately, but Sanki emphasized the role of Big Ten and Sea in the room.
“As long as you are going to tear the MoU-who may probably want to do because of their concerns about the decision-making authority,” Sanki said, “but very clearly that memorandum is prudent in that memorandum [the authority] For the combination of SEC and Big Ten, finally we have to use that right with great knowledge and discretion. ,
This does not mean that they will agree.
“I think there is a notion that some magic should be there, and something should be with detail, and it is to be forced,” Sanki said. “When you are given the authority, you want to be responsible using that authority. I think both of us are ready to do so. … We do not need consensus, and eventually, if not, if not, Big Ten and Sec have been given a level of authority together.
The SEC will also continue to talk about its 2026 schedule, and whether to move beyond eight to nine league games – CFP discussions also a major component in discussions, as many sources in Big Ten have said that they will not consider 5+11 models unless both SEC and ACC go to nine league games. Sankey said that every team in SEC played at least nine games against power opponents, and many played 10 out of 12 matches against power opponents. And it will be true that this is a decline.
“I don’t believe that no one is looking to swap their conference program and its opponents, which are eight or nine with opponents played by the South East conference teams in our conference program,” said Sanki. “Here is a hardness that is unique.”
Sankey said that once they decide on their program, the conference office is “ready to go”.
“It won’t be too long for a long time,” Sanki said. We have to decide about the “26 season “and adjust whether we are going to go to nine games, and the game is to be removed or re -determined, and if we live on eight, it is probably a little easier on that part of the logistics.”
Sankey addressed several topics on Monday, stating that he does not think the college athletics has experienced so much change in the last 100 years because it now faces.
“Let me be clear,” he said, “from my perspective, college athletics is not broken. It is under stress. It is stressful.”
As the House Basti has begun to put a new financial burden on the premises, Sanki said the SEC has also considered “out -of -financing ideas” later last week. He said that SEC’s stance on private equity has not changed, and this is not the right step for the league at this time.
He said, “We are probably 2½, 3 years old, with banks, private equity, with venture capital,” he said. “You can go down from the range, private capital is another phrase that has been used. It is not the right direction for us. We have not seen the concept that works. It does not mean that we will not consider opportunities. If there are opportunities for mutual profit, they have the perception of jumping our interest, but you do not meet a vessel, what is not a pottery?
