Making the case for the SEC to keep an eight-game format

The SEC is in the midst of discussions about a potential new football scheduling model, with proponents of an eight-game league slate and a nine-game slate squaring off in Destin, Fla., this week at the SEC spring meetings.

In a call on the McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning program, On3’s Ivan Maisel was asked to outline the case in favor of remaining with eight conference games, even as the SEC is set to expand to 16 teams with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024.

“It’s money,” Maisel said. “If ESPN does not come up with more money then the incentive is still there (to go to nine games), but it’s not as strong.”

The long-time college football reporter didn’t offer a terribly strong defense of an eight-game schedule, more of a reasoning behind why a move to nine games might not be quite as popular as it was in theory a year ago.

At that point, it seemed almost inevitable that the league would go to nine games as a way to ensure every program played each other relatively frequently while also providing an easy way to preserve many of the league’s secondary rivalries. Those factors remain enticing, but perhaps not immediately.

One factor that has been pointed to as a potential reason to delay a permanent decision when it comes to a new football scheduling model is seeing what an expanded College Football Playoff looks like.

Still, there are seemingly more reasons to go to nine games than not. As Maisel pointed out, there’s still an incentive there, even if the TV money isn’t one.

“And it’s still there because every AD knows that pulling in Mercer and San Jose State and fill in the blank, their constituents, their ticket-buyers have had enough of that,” Maisel said. “But they’ve also got to build buildings and paint restrooms and do all that other stuff, so it’s a money decision first and it doesn’t mean they won’t do it.”

Finally, there’s a possibility of a solution coming this week that is somewhere in the middle. That could look like an eight-game conference schedule for a year or two (with divisions eliminated), while the conference mulls the best way to move to nine conference games long term.

Will that be the new scheduling model the SEC takes?

That remains to be seen, but there remains significant support for a nine-game slate eventually.

“There’s a strong case to be made to go ahead and do it and the money will follow,” Maisel said. “It certainly would be, in so many ways, a PR victory for the league. Whether they care about that or not I guess we’ll find out.”