College Football Playoff expansion hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the feeling is that it’s only a matter of time until it is. Kirby Smart still hasn’t taken a firm stance on where he stands, but he has voiced some concern about what could happen to the SEC Championship game.
The consensus is that if the playoff expands again then there won’t be room for conference championship games anymore. This thought process has led some to argue that the SEC should just do away with their championship game now which Smart is firmly against.
But if the playoff does expand Smart believes it might make sense for the game to end. He however has still been apprehensive about that because he loves the history and magnitude of this game, so he might be happy to hear that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey proclaimed that the SEC Championship game is here to stay regardless of what happens with CFP expansion.
Greg Sankey asked about his opinion of SEC Championship Game: "We have a contract, so pretty committed."
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) May 25, 2026
SEC Championship game is here to stay as playoff expansion talks ramp up
If the playoff expands that most likely will mean that the playoff games will start sooner. Unfortunately the most likely landing spot is the first weekend of December which is when conference championship games are currently played.
But according to Sankey that isn’t possible because the SEC is under contract to keep playing this game.
Contracts however are written to be broken, so they certainly would be able to get out of that contract if they needed to. So although Sankey said they are under contract to continue playing the SEC Championship game, they could find a way around that if they needed to.
But Sankey sharing this message shows that he doesn’t want to end the SEC Championship game if he doesn’t have to, so it’s refreshing to know that at least one important voice out there is pushing back against expansion.
Kirby Smart’s opinion on CFP expansion matters more than he might realize
Not only does Sankey have an important opinion when it comes to playoff expansion, but so too does Smart. No active coach has found more success than he has, so that should mean his opinion matters more than any other coach.
Knowing that it seems plausible that Smart could push to keep the playoff at 12 teams and have others follow suit. At this point it’s unclear if that’s what he wants, but there are good reasons why he would.
Not only could the SEC Championship game go away, but the importance of each regular season game would decrease with expansion as well. An expanded playoff means an SEC team could get in with an 8-4 record, so each individual game would matter far less because a loss wouldn’t end their season.
It’s hard to imagine Smart being okay with either of these things, but only time will tell.
But one thing is certain, with such a hot button topic dominating colkege football discussions right now it is only a matter of time until every head coach will have to speak on what they hope happens.
And everyone will want to hear what Smart has to say.
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