Greg Sankey ponders whether earlier CFP expansion would’ve impacted conference realignment

College football is going through several key changes to the structure of the sport, including the College Football Playoff and conference realignment among other things. Now, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey wonders whether clarity of CFP expansion could have had an impact on recent conference realignment.

During an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show, Sankey explained that he thinks stability would have helped but there are a lot of factors that go into realignment.

“That’s a fascinating question, Paul because I’ve had colleagues say, ‘Wow, this expansion helps stability.'” Greg Sankey said. “And remember that decision is what, made in November? So, it’s not even nine months old and yet here we have multiple points of movement.”

The most recent conference realignment has left the Pac-12 with just four remaining schools. It’s a round of realignment that goes back to Greg Sankey and the SEC taking Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12. Shortly after, USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten. Everything since then has been in response to those two moves.

At the time that the SEC added the Big 12’s biggest brands, Greg Sankey was working with then-Big 12 Commission Bob Bowlsby among others to help craft an expanded CFP.

“I’ve not been one who looks at conference movement and just points to one factor as a reason to move or not to move. If you have an accurate reading over time, probably dating back to the board of regents decision and studying each moment, there’s a lot that goes into it.”

Ultimately, the new CFP format is set to include 12 teams. Six are going to be the top-ranked conference champions. The other six are going to be at-large bids. That should allow teams in conferences outside of the SEC and Big Ten to have access to the postseason format.

“I do, though, think that we would have been in a healthier spot having clarity around the Playoff itself. Would that have stopped movement? That depends on media negotiations if you believe what’s been reported as the tipping point for why. Yet, one of the great lessons of the Covid summer is every point along the way where we can provide clarity, we benefit from doing so, and the fact that we didn’t have full clarity for a much longer period of time, I don’t think, promoted stability, but I wouldn’t reduce it, Paul, just to that one factor.”

In the wake of conference realignment, there have been renewed questions about the CFP. That includes Greg Sankey, who wants the format reexamined.

Greg Sankey on conference alliances

Shortly after the SEC took Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12, commissioners from the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 created a supposed alliance. That didn’t last long, though, and now Greg Sankey has shared his thoughts on them.

“I go back to probably early August ’21 — and there was an alliance formed and announced, and a Zoom press conference, and then quickly went into meetings and everything stopped. I think, looking back, that was really unfortunate and unnecessary, and there wasn’t a great deal of clarity around the why,” Sankey said.

“The presidents reengaged last year — I think you and I had a conversation in August about renewed potential for the CFP format to be considered and expanded. One of the reasons I gave, as commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, is… even here in the SEC, we wanted college football to be strong nationally, and we’ve not seen a west-of-the-Rockies participant in the playoff since, I believe, 2016. So the expansion was about making sure we brought in western football. Well, now what’s happened is western football has come into other conferences. Circumstances have changed and it’s wise for us to take a step back and reconsider what the format might look like. We’ve not met on that, I’ve not had any meaningful conversations.”