College Football insider reveals impact of CFP expansion on SEC schedule

With the College Football Playoff set to expand to 12 teams following the momentous news on Friday afternoon, the knock-on effects of a larger postseason field are worth pondering. One change spurred on by the growing playoff could be to SEC scheduling.

Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger noted on Twitter on Friday after the news broke that the bigger field could finally get the conference to shift to a nine-game conference schedule instead of the eight-game slate they’ve stuck to. With the promise of playoff expansion, Dellenger said, and the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, could finally have SEC schools willing to add the extra conference game.

An impact of expansion: the SEC’s future scheduling model.

Those within the league believe that, with the promise of expansion, SEC ADs will be more willing to move from 8 games to 9 league games when Texas & OU join the conference.https://t.co/abvkesiUDj

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 2, 2022

Over the summer, the SEC decided to punt on picking a future scheduling model, as explained by On3’s Ivan Maisel. It became apparent in August that the league was beginning to lean toward a nine-game football slate.

When to start the new playoff format is a big decision with big money at play

The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams, but the question is now about when it’ll happen, and it could happen sooner than expected.

Dellenger reported 2025 is the “plausible” start date for a 12-team playoff because that lines up with the end of the CFP’s deal with ESPN. However, he added officials could work toward a 2024 start date because that would create $450 million in television revenue.

That won’t be easy, though. There’s plenty to figure out before an early expansion, notably TV rights and game sites.

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“There are logistical hurdles,” Dellenger wrote. “A current operation of three games (semifinals + championship) would nearly quadruple in size to 11 games, with just 27 months of lead time. The original deadline for expanding early was nine months ago.

“The CFP just recently announced the dates and sites of the championship games for the 2024 and ’25 seasons, Atlanta and Miami, respectively. In any expanded playoff model, the championship game will be moved back at least a week, into mid-January. New sites and new dates might be necessary.”

The discussion about starting the expanded CFP will start next week when the commissioners meet in Dallas and could continue into the end of the month when they meet in Chicago, according to Dellenger. A lot has happened since their last meeting when talks initially broke down, though. The Big 12 has a new commissioner and USC and UCLA announced they’re leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024.