Greg Sankey provides timeline for decision on eight SEC games vs. nine

The SEC has expanded to 16 teams and the 2024 season will be the first run through a conference format with eight league games and a single division. But that could change in future years.

The conversation over whether the league might expand to nine conference games is an intriguing one, particularly as a score of non-conference games in upcoming years have been replaced or scrapped altogether. Many wonder if that isn’t outright clearing the way for a nine-game SEC slate.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the eight vs. nine games discussion on the Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday.

“We’re not inattentive to our ’26 schedule and beyond,” Sankey said. “Remember, ’24 and ’25 are at eight. ’24 was a year earlier than the membership invitation (for Oklahoma and Texas) originally stated. All the changes around us made this the right time. Thrilled to be where we are, but it was a quicker timeframe.

“So just walking away from a lot of non-conference games, also wanting to see what happened with the CFP, the wise thing I think is what we’ve done, which is stay at eight.”

The SEC doesn’t want to get ahead of itself. It wants to remain one of the premier conferences, competitive at the highest level. Learning how to play to the new playoff format will be a huge part of that.

There’s also the potential for the league to wring more money out of its television partners by adding more conference inventory.

Sankey stressed the learning experience and back-and-forth that will occur over the next few months.

“We have a year as a 16-team, eight-game, single-division conference followed by a 12-team playoff. I think those are important learning experiences,” he said. “And then you get to the first quarter of 2026. Seems the right opportunity to make the next decision. And the format issue, eight vs. nine, the learning experiences from last year, work with our television partner will all help inform that decision — bowl access, scheduling options. I don’t think we’re going to open Pandora’s box with the 40-plus models from before, but we can take a healthy look at what’s ahead for ’26 and beyond.”

So when would that decision be made? Is there a hard deadline for it?

“Yes. … Yeah, we’ve gone as late as Destin for that decision, what 15 months later (we’d play),” Sankey said. “I think that’s the outer limit. I think the motivation is to decide sooner rather than later, and we have some work to do. But we have an opportunity to learn a bit to inform our decision-making as well.”

So there you have it. SEC spring meetings in 2025 could provide a decision, at the very latest. And a decision likely won’t come until at least this year’s playoff has been played out.

Sankey provided a pretty clear window into what the timeframe will look like.