In case you’ve missed the news, reports have been surfacing surrounding upcoming changes to the College Football Playoff. The CFP just expanded to 12 teams this past season, but the expectation is that this will change once again beginning with the 2026 season.
One would assume every conference, or at least the Power Four conferences, would all have to agree on changes to something as big as the CFP. That however is not the case.
Executives from 10 leagues, including the ACC and Big 12, as well as Notre Dame all agreed in a memorandum in the past to give the SEC and Big Ten the decision making power when it comes to changes to the College Football Playoff format beginning in 2026. The one key caveat is that the two conferences still need to run any potential changes by these conferences before making any changes.
In reality though, this is just another step in the process that the SEC and Big Ten will just go through the motions while ultimately still deciding to do whatever is best for their leagues. And a recent statement from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey confirms that.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey declines to discuss particulars around any future playoff format starting in 2026, citing the fact that the SEC and Big Ten first "owe" the other commissioners their thoughts before sharing publicly.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) February 19, 2025
Sankey likely doesn’t care about the other conferences
For better or for worse, every decision in college football is made with the mindset of making as much money as possible. That undoubtedly is where Sankey’s head is at regardless of whatever input he gets from the other conferences.
So if the CFP is going to expand, the best way for Sankey to make more money for the conference is by getting as many SEC teams into the playoff. So that is why it’s likely that both the SEC and Big Ten will automatically get four teams into the playoff every year.
There likely will be a lot of debate surrounding if this is the right thing to do or not, but it’s looking like the SEC and Big Ten are going to get their way. This is good news for Georgia football because they likely will be in the top four in the conference every season, but at the same time this expansion does seem a little strange.
It will be interesting to see what decision is made, but it appears that Sankey only cares about one thing, the SEC.