Greg Sankey pushes back on idea of Big Ten-SEC 'scheduling agreement' after meeting

Heading into last week’s meeting in Nashville, reports indicated the Big Ten and SEC were planning to talk about some sort of scheduling partnership. It was one of the many reported topics on the agenda, along with the College Football Playoff, but Greg Sankey downplayed the idea of a “scheduling agreement.”

Sankey recapped the meeting Wednesday during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show, pointing out the different “categories” of topics discussed with Tony Petitti and others. Scheduling did come up, but it the commissioner said it didn’t get near the level of an “agreement” in place between the two conferences.

Staffs from both conferences ran the data and there are multiple Big Ten-SEC games in the works over the next few years, Sankey said. While they brought up the idea of potentially working together, he noted other partnerships over the years that didn’t end up happening. That said, the conversations are important.

“In ’25, ’26, 27, I think we had up to like ’32, ’33, where the Big Ten and SEC teams have already agreed to play regular-season contests,” Sankey said. “In I think ’26-’27, we have five or so, and you think back to the COVID year and even the few years before, we played almost no non-conference games against Big Ten opponents. We had a conversation. Here’s how the conversation went. ‘Hey, we do this naturally, do you want to just leave it in your campus’ hands?’ ‘We can do something coordinated with the conference offices, but you have to work with us.’ ‘Is there something else out there, that’s like a third category?’ And people said, you know what, maybe you guys keep talking, see what you can do. That’s not an agreement.

“And I would just caution, the Pac-12 and Big Ten had an agreement a decade ago that never really came to fruition. There was this Alliance thing that was supposed to have scheduling that never came to fruition. I think you and I know each other well enough that you understand, we need to be careful in what we say. Can we have conversations? Sure. Do they get leaked? Sure. Does everybody react that there’s some giant move afoot? No, but we ought to be having these conversations because being in Ann Arbor – and credit to our hosts at Michigan with Texas – you just sit there and say, ‘Wow, man. What if you could do this more often?’ Whether it’s at Maryland or in Oxford, Mississippi or up in Minnesota and have them come down to Baton Rouge, something like that. I think we ought to talk about that.”

Greg Sankey on House settlement: ‘A lot of questions, a lot of work’

One of the most important topics in college sports is the House v. NCAA settlement, which was preliminarily approved earlier this month. Tony Petitti spoke about the impact of the settlement at Big Ten Media Days just after its preliminary approval and how it can shape the college sports landscape.

But Greg Sankey pointed out the “transition” taking place right now. As a result, it’s not a linear path to find a solution, which is why he said conversations between the SEC and Big Ten are especially important.

“If we go back, Paul, to what happened, I think just to set up really important categories – one, we have a settlement, as you and I have talked about, in the House v. NCAA litigation,” Sankey said. “It’s an opportunity to create a structure around the economic relationships of the student athletes. It’s transformational. A lot of questions, a lot of work.

“We’re in a time of transition in that transformation. In the middle of anything in the middle is messy. The beginning is fun – oh, look at this excitement – the end is relief, and we’re in the middle, so it’s a little bit messy right now.”

‘Let’s see what happens this year’ with College Football Playoff

One of the other important discussion points was the College Football Playoff, which is expanding to 12 teams this year. While reports indicated entry to the CFP could be on the agenda, Greg Sankey said the two conferences talked about seeing the 12-team model play out first. The current contract ends in 2026, meaning things are sure to change when a new deal goes into effect.

“We then spent time on the College Football Playoff,” Sankey said. “Not about some grand takeover, but understanding what happens first this year and understanding our roles in decision-making in the future. We have spent no real time on the what-ifs of the ’26 season and beyond because that’s a new contract. We need to see what happens with this year’s 12-team Playoff with the SEC at 16 [teams], other conferences are at 18 – the Big Ten and the ACC – and our Big 12 partners are at 16, as well.

“So let’s see what happens this year. Let’s learn from that, and we’ll come back to that conversation. So I think a lot of overstatements there.”