SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stands firm on 16-team CFP, details challenges amid 24-team push
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey stood firm behind a 16-team College Football Playoff expansion Monday, indicating that a disagreement with the Big Ten — which backs doubling the current bracket to 24 teams — is lingering deep into the offseason. “That focus hasn’t changed," Sankey said at the APSE Southeast Region meeting at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
"We’re open to the conversation, but there are a lot of ideas out there that have to be supported with analysis and information, not speculation. ” Sankey said all changes in college athletics must come with appropriate research — something he believes the SEC has provided in support of a four-team expansion to 16. To Sankey, the Big Ten-backed plan and whether it would offer much difference from 16 teams, is an unknown.
A decision on the 2027 format would need to be made later this year. The playoff expanded from four to 12 teams in 2024, and after decision-makers failed to reach an expansion agreement , the CFP will use the same model for the 2026-27 season. The discussion carries major implications for the college football schedule in general, including when it kicks off, the role of still-lucrative conference championship games and when the season comes to a close in January.
“We're trying to inform that with research. We've done that, from our perspective, with 16,” Sankey said. “We want to understand, through some analytic support, games that matter in an expanded environment, and games that might not matter.
” Sankey cited Oklahoma's late push into the playoff last season as the blueprint, saying it was “good for college football. ” An NCAA committee last month recommended that Football Bowl Subdivision teams play a 12-game schedule over 14 weeks beginning in 2027 with the season starting on the Thursday of what is now designated Week Zero and ending the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Last week, the American Football Coaches Association proposed changes to the schedule that included eliminating conference championship games, reducing scheduled bye weeks from two to one and reducing the minimum number of days between games to no fewer than six.