SEC, Big Ten officials to meet this week on College Football Playoff expansion, format changes

Executives from the Big Ten and SEC will gather Wednesday in New Orleans to continue the process of reshaping college football in a manner that serves their purposes. Whether the shared vision suits the best interest of the sport writ large is the subject of intense debate across the multi-billion-dollar industry.

Should two conferences with 34 combined members hold absolute dominion over the 100 other Football Bowl Subdivision schools?

Should teams with massive resource advantages get free passes into the College Football Playoff without earning their bids on the field?

It’s one more reminder that self-interest is king in college sports, where there is no central authority and one guiding principle: Collect every dollar possible from the TV networks — just make sure not to get sued in the process.

This week’s gathering of SEC and Big Ten athletic directors is actually their second summit. The first meeting, in Nashville in October, was perhaps best remembered for SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s comment on the inaugural 12-team playoff. “This just has to go incredibly well,” he threatened — err, said.

It did not go as well as the SEC would have liked. The conference received just three CFP bids, one less than the Big Ten and only one more than the ACC. Whether that became the tipping point for Sankey — he might have pushed for adjustments to the playoff even if the SEC had received five bids — only he knows.

Either way, the CFP is changing. And those changes will have a trickle-down impact on the entire sport.

While Big Two officials will discuss a slew of issues, including that coming era of revenue sharing in college sports, the future of the CFP will consume plenty of oxygen.

After all, the summit was timed to ensure the two conferences are aligned on strategy before the CFP’s management committee meets next week. (The committee is made up of all 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director.)

Before we plunge into the details, one important point: In order to change the CFP format for the 2025 season, the final year of the current media contract cycle, unanimity is required among all the FBS conferences. Because the ACC, Big 12 and Group of Five have no reason to agree to alterations that would benefit the SEC and Big Ten, major changes will be difficult to implement.

But the governance structure shifts in 2026, when the SEC and Big Ten gain more control and can effectively ram through whatever alterations they desire (with ESPN’s approval, of course).

Those alterations are exactly what the conferences will discuss Wednesday, with expansion front and center.

The SEC and Big Ten want to increase the event to either 14 or 16 teams. If they settle on 14, which means two additional games, then only two teams would have opening-round byes. If they opt for 16, which requires four more games, there would be no byes.

They also want guaranteed access. According to a source with knowledge of the strategy, the entire selection process would be based on automatic bids broken down in this manner:

— Four for both the Big Ten and SEC

— Two for both the ACC and Big 12

— One for the highest-ranked team from the Group of Five

— One at-large berth designated for Notre Dame, if the Irish meet certain performance criteria

(The model has been dubbed the 4-4-2-2-1-1 approach. If the field expanded to 16, there would be three at-large berths instead of one.)

The creation of multiple automatic bids for each power conference would greatly limit the role of the selection committee — a good thing given how poorly the committee performed this winter.

But allocating four automatic bids for the Big Ten and SEC is a bit like tax breaks for billionaires. They already have enormous advantages and would probably put four teams (at minimum) in the field anyhow. It doesn’t make much sense until you connect the dots — to the dollar signs.

Not postseason dollars: There’s no guarantee ESPN, which owns the CFP rights, would offer more cash in exchange for more games.

Instead, the automatic bids would enable the SEC and Big Ten to unlock in-season dollars.

If four teams are guaranteed to receive CFP berths — as determined by how they perform in conference play — then losses outside of league competition carry much less risk than under the current format.

Which means the Big Ten and SEC could play more non-conference games against each other.

And that, folks, brings us to another important agenda item this week: The creation of an SEC-Big Ten scheduling alliance featuring a series of marquee matchups that generate huge TV ratings and, presumably, more revenue from the TV networks. An inter-conference series could be worth well into eight figures annually for the leagues, according to a Yahoo report.

The third potential change — and this one impacts the Big 12 and ACC, as well — focuses on conference championship games.

If automatic bids are waiting for more than one team, the need to stage a traditional title game is limited, if not eliminated. And that opens the possibility of a series of games on the final weekend (think: No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5).

Conversations about overhauling championship weekend are being held in all the power conferences, Yahoo reported.

Yep, it’s another path to generating more money from TV partners.

The changes under consideration by the SEC and Big Ten will take time to play out, with more clarity coming next week at the CFP management committee meeting. And again, the CFP format is expected to remain largely intact for next season.

But starting in 2026, the postseason — and perhaps the regular season — could look markedly different in a way that benefits the two conferences that already hold all the advantages.

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