Greg Sankey pushes back on College Football Playoff expansion rush: 'We have to do the homework'

The future of College Football Playoff expansion remains a hot-button topic once again this offseason, with the SEC holding firm in its unflinching opposition to the Big Ten’s 24-team field proposal that is quickly garnering widespread support throughout the rest of the sport.

In fact, ahead of the CFP management committee’s annual spring meetings last week in Dallas, a Yahoo! Sports report revealed the White House has even expressed its support for doubling the current 12-team field. That news followed reports three of the Power Four conference commissioners and Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua have seemingly coalesced around the 24-team proposal.

Nevertheless, Sankey and the SEC remain in direct opposition to the Big Ten model that would likely require a complete overhaul of the current college football format fans have grown to know and love. Sankey explained the SEC’s thinking on the matter on Wednesday’s episode of The Paul Finebaum Show from the Regions Traditions Pro-Am in Birmingham.

“You now there’s not a lot of research (into) what’s the media marketplace interest in a 24-team playoff. We understand it for 16, we know it for 12. Are there other options that should be considered?” Sankey said before pointing out potential challenges a 24-team model would place on the sports’ current calendar, including making the season even longer. “I also know that when we tried to go from 4 to 12, I had commissioner colleagues whose stopping point was student-athletes’ health, well-being, the number of games. How (does it affect) the full calendar?

“And I said to the media last week, it’s ironic we’re not even talking about that. That’s a gentle reminder to all of us that just adding games has consequences,” Sankey continued. “… We have to do the homework. And when we went from 4 to 12, I think one of the mistakes was we announced we’re going to 12 and then negotiated with the media. We should understand the media marketplace before we have an increase in, for example, the number of teams.”

Big Ten and SEC battle it out over the future of the CFP

The debate between the SEC-favored 16-team field and the Big Ten-backed 24-team field has been going strong for nearly two years now, with the two conference commissioners battling it out over the future of the CFP. And based on the power both league commissioners yield on the CFP management committee, any decision on future expansion will require an agreement between the two prominent conferences.

But the fact that the 24-team field now reportedly has the support of much of the CFP committee speaks volumes to how far the Big Ten’s proposal has come over the last year. The 24-team field would completely reshape the college football landscape, including likely ushering in the end of conference championship games.

The larger option would double the current 12-team field, grant four automatic bids to each of the Power Four conferences, and first-round byes to the Top 8 teams as dictated by the final CFP rankings. Detractors of that format, including the SEC, have argued a 24-team option would dilute an already watered-down field as well as devalue the regular season, with the sole drive becoming making the CFP.

Of course, supporters of the 24-team proposal continue to point to the projected financial boon of adding 12 more games to the current playoff system. Those additional games would necessitate a renegotiation of the CFP’s current media rights agreement with ESPN, and potentially include the addition of other TV partners like FOX. ESPN is the CFP’s exclusive media partner through 2032.

Despite the broad support for the 24-team model, including from some coaches and administrators within the SEC, no formal decision on expansion is expected anytime soon. The CFP committee has a Dec. 1 deadline to decide on any future format changes for 2027 and beyond.