Greg Sankey on potential SEC playoff: 'It’s not intended as a threat'

Playoff discussion has been at the forefront not only at a national level but also within the SEC. Commissioner Greg Sankey has brought an SEC-only playoff to the table, where teams from the conference would end the season by once again facing off against one another.

Sankey was asked during SEC Spring Meetings if the potential proposal was a threat to the College Football Playoff after failing to agree on an expansion. He denied any kind of threat, saying “it’s an acknowledgment of reality.” While Sankey did say discussions regarding the postseason did stop, he thinks the SEC needs to look after themselves first.

“I don’t know how people view it,” Sankey said. “Back in the fall, as we were looking through all of the possibilities — remember that blue-sky thinking? That produces a range of possibility which is a healthy way to inform decision making. That notion about the playoff — we looked at using the end of the regular season for matchups based on whose were and then kind of playing it forward. We talked about a variety of things then just kind of stopped. Still in a folder someplace. I’m not offering that as leverage, we were talking about our own reality.

“I do think that, from my view, we have to consider what happens after the 12-year cycle concludes,” Sankey continued. “And there’s nothing. I mean, literally nothing after the 25th season in January ’26. I’m going to be intentional about thinking about our postseason relationships and thinking about our format. We had the opportunity to make a decision at the national level and didn’t. That’s where we are. It wasn’t created as a threat. It’s not intended as a threat. It’s an acknowledgment of reality. We need to prepare for our scheduling purposes and think about what’s out there on the horizon.”

Multiple options were on the table to for College Football Playoff, with both eight and 12 teams being possibilities. However, neither was adopted as other conferences decided to let the TV contract run its course before truly making a decision.

Greg Sankey and the SEC seem upset with how things are processing and looking at their own possibilities. Since the mid-2000s the SEC has been dominating college football and truly been the driving force. Even though he is not threatening the rest of the country, Sankey is going to be looking out for his own conference moving forward.