Paul Finebaum identifies the biggest storyline entering SEC spring meetings

The SEC spring meetings are about two weeks away. There, the conference has several important questions to figure out, including a scheduling model, as Texas and Oklahoma prepare to join the conference in 2024.

During an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, analyst Paul Finebaum explained that he’s most interested in how many conference games each team will play annually.

“Yes, Greg and Cole, I think the real question now is what’s going to happen, and it starts in two weeks, two weeks from tomorrow, what is going to happen with the number of games,” Paul Finebaum said. “I think most of us just considered it an automatic that the SEC was going to nine games but I am not certain of that.”

There are pros and cons to playing nine conference games, instead of eight like the SEC plays now. On one hand, it’s great for fan interest and provides a more valuable product to ESPN. However, for borderline bowl teams, it can take away a cupcake win that could secure bowl eligibility.

On top of that, there are questions about how scheduling might change once the College Football Playoff expands.

“I think that will happen because it makes too much sense but there has been some resistance and some of the schools, by the way you heard Nick Saban talk about it a few weeks ago, don’t necessarily really like looking at what they’re looking at in terms of permanent opponents. So, I think that needs to find resolution and it needs to find resolution quickly and the time is up,” Finebaum said.

“And, again, what is this really about? It’s about money too. If the league goes to nine games, which does hurt certain schools by having to play that extra conference game, what is the payoff? What do they get for it? The person that will pay them, obviously, is ESPN. So, that’s what everyone is waiting to find out two weeks from now when we get to Destin.”

Texas and Oklahoma are expected to attend the SEC spring meetings, giving their say about the future of the conference.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on scheduling models

In February, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spoke about the possibilities of both scheduling and division models that he hopes to figure out during spring meetings.

“I had two things in mind and said it repeatedly, again, dating back to the expansion announcement,” Sankey said.

“One was that we engage in what I call blue sky thinking. That’s not a term that originates with me, but take a step back and look at the big picture. Forget all of the old encumbrances and think about what are the options in front of us, and we’ve explored dozens of scheduling models and people send me scheduling ideas. In fact, just walking in my office there’s yet another letter with another scheduling idea that we’ve already processed through.”

Sankey emphasized that the SEC is likely heading toward a single-division model. On top of that, it’s going to be important that teams play more frequently in the new model.

“So, we’ve accomplished kind of the first objective. Let’s look at all of the options available. The second was let’s rotate our teams through campuses with greater frequency. We saw games last year, Missouri at Auburn, for example, that hadn’t been played since we added Missouri back in 2012. The one that sticks out in most articles is Georgia has not traveled to College Stations since Texas A&M has been a member. That shouldn’t happen. We shouldn’t be going 12 years between campus visits,” Sankey said.

“With the prominence of our universities, the strength of our football programs, the visibility of our teams, we should be rotating our teams through more frequently. So, those have been the two objectives I’ve identified. We have focused most recently on a single division format.”