SEC Football Officially Moving To Nine-Game Schedule After Years Of Debate, Thanks To Money And CFP Talks
After years of debate, Southeastern Conference leaders have officially approved a change in scheduling format.
After a meeting with athletic directors this week, the SEC has now adopted a nine-game college football conference schedule that has been looming for the last few years, thanks to a vote by presidents on Thursday.
All it took was the possibility of extra money, along with a push from the college football playoff committee to finally get them over a few hurdles. Now, it will come down to university presidents to make the final decision on whether to switch from an 8-game to 9-game schedule after this week's meetings.
But, athletic directors don't make potential decisions without their bosses knowing about what's going on during these meetings that took place this week with conference commissioner Greg Sankey.
"Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities’ commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation," said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. "This format protects rivalries, increases competitive balance, and paired with our requirement to play an additional Power opponent, ensures SEC teams are well prepared to compete and succeed in the College Football Playoff."
While this has always been the correct path, there were times over the past year when the situation looked as though it would continue to be pushed down the road. That was until the thought of ESPN adding monetary stipulations to the move was discussed further.
What will this look like each year? Well, each team will play three annual opponents
- The SEC will continue with a single-standings, non-divisional structure;
- Each school will play three annual opponents focused on maintaining many traditional rivalries;
- Each team’s remaining six games will rotate among the remaining conference schools; and
- Each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away in four years.
Also of note, the SEC had this to say about how teams will be scheduling future opponents, and which conference they must come from.
"SEC teams are required to schedule at least one additional high quality non-conference from the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten or Big 12 conferences or Notre Dame each season. The SEC will continue to evaluate its policies to ensure the continued scheduling of high-quality non-conference opponents."
If you're wondering if this is a coincidence with the ongoing CFP debate, you would not be wrong in your thinking. Right now, the Big Ten and SEC have been at an impasse over what the playoff format should look like following this season.
But, with the overbearing ‘idea’ of potentially having a 24-or 28-team playoff being floated by the Big Ten this week, this timing lines up with the decision-making process within the SEC, which has been in the works for many years.
Could this mean that the CFP format could be decided soon? There is a better chance of the 4-4-2-2-1 model being adopted, if the SEC follows through with its new conference schedule.
Additional Revenue Never Hurts, And Neither Does Finalizing Future CFP Format
If the landscape of college athletics was going to change, once again, there had to be alignment between leaders of each SEC school. Conference officials are now looking at what life with a nine-game schedule would actually look like.
One of the most important topics would be the conference having to lay the framework for its member institutions to start the ‘buy-out’ process of future games. That could impact a nine-game schedule, which means there could be plenty of contracts that are bought out by opposing teams over the next year.
"The SEC has established itself as the leader in delivering the most compelling football schedule in college athletics," Sankey said. "Fans will see traditional rivalries preserved, new matchups more frequently, and a level of competition unmatched across the nation."
Was the SEC ready to adopt the new scheduling format? Sure they were, and it's not as if these discussions have just popped up recently. This has been an ongoing topic of conversation for years, even though they've held off making the change.
Add in the new CFP strength of schedule metrics that were introduced this week, and you've got a group of university leaders ready to act. What would this mean going forward for teams within the conference?
There will potentially be three permanent opponents for each team within the conference, with a rotation of six different opponents on a yearly basis. Most likely, you will see a home-and-home series, before a new batch of teams is added to each schedule.
All of this comes on the heels of an interesting summer, where Big Ten coaches were making light of the fact that the SEC was still playing eight conference games per season. Now, they could end up joining their foe with the same number of games each season, with the ACC potentially following.
But don't get this confused. The SEC wouldn't be making this type of move if it did not have assurances that additional revenue would come with a ‘yes’ vote.
This would also make deciding on a future CFP format more attainable for all sides, given that the Big Ten has been pestering its foes from the South to make the move.
For any of this to pass, school presidents have to agree. But, as mentioned earlier, I can assure you that all parties from each school are working off the same mindset as their representatives from the athletic department.
Congrats to the SEC for finally joining the nine-game conference schedule party. It took long enough.