The SEC is moving closer to adopting a nine-game conference schedule, a source briefed on the discussions said, after the conference’s athletic directors met this week in Birmingham, Ala.
While the conference’s presidents will still need to give final approval, it’s the closest the conference has been to moving forward with a nine-game schedule — a decision it has been debating for years. The nine-game schedule would go into effect for 2026, the source said.
The SEC currently plays eight conference games, while the Big Ten and Big 12 play nine (the ACC also plays eight). ESPN has indicated a willingness to increase its payment to the SEC if the conference were to add a ninth league game, though there was no formal offer at the time.
The eight-or-nine debate comes amid the backdrop of another debate about the future format of the College Football Playoff. The SEC and Big Ten differed on preferred 16-game formats this summer, with the Big Ten pushing for a format that would include more automatic bids. Part of the reason for that was the inconsistent number of league games each conference plays.
The news also comes a day after the CFP announced it would be tweaking a schedule strength formula it gives members of the selection committee. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and others in the SEC have been pushing for the conference’s schedule strength to get more respect, with Sankey putting out an eight-page booklet on the last day of spring meetings in May, which he argued “showed there is a rigor here that is unique.”
In a nine-game conference schedule, every SEC team would have three annual opponents and six new opponents each season. At SEC media days in July, Sankey said the three annual opponents would not be permanent. The schedules would operate on a four-year cycle, allowing for “look-ins” to revisit the three annual rivalries.
The SEC schedule became a front-burner debate four years ago, when the SEC invited Oklahoma and Texas. That was also when the SEC decided to do away with divisional play, as a way to get more matchups between teams that had been in opposite divisions. Divisions went away last year upon the Sooners and Longhorns joining the conference.
But getting to a consensus on a nine-game schedule was harder. Sankey privately supported it, and many of the bigger schools (Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, LSU) did as well. But what appeared to be majority support for nine games peeled away. Financial concerns from some schools about not getting enough money from ESPN to make up for one less home game every two years. Competitive concerns from others, such as Alabama, when it saw its three annual opponents might be Auburn, LSU and Tennessee.
Since there wasn’t enough support for a permanent decision either way, the SEC opted for a stopgap schedule in 2024, eight games without divisions, while keeping every team’s main annual rival, and in many cases what could be the two additional rivalries as well. The conference decided to do the same for 2025, keeping the 2024 schedule and flipping the home sites. The SEC has not released a 2026 schedule, but only Mississippi State has four nonconference games scheduled for next year, meaning the rest of the league has left at least one spot clear for a possible ninth conference game.
As the SEC debated what to do for 2026, the main sticking point became maximizing the number of teams in the CFP, especially after only three SEC teams made the first 12-team field last year. Coaches and athletic directors expressed concern that adding another conference game would essentially mean beating up on each other more.
But with the future of the CFP format up in the air, and the SEC schedule intertwined as an issue, the SEC appears to be making the first big move.
The SEC going to nine games could have a domino effect on the ACC, where commissioner Jim Phillips has said his conference may follow the SEC.
“It’s one of those factors that you just have to keep your ear to the ground and see what happens. And once it does happen, and they’re, you know, their course is set, what does that do within our league?” Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich said Wednesday, before the news out of the SEC. “Of course, we have the Notre Dame (scheduling agreement with the ACC) as well. So, how does that work within the parameters that we have?”
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
