Why the SEC has pushed pause on the 2026 schedule

SANDESTIN, Fla. — The SEC released a piece of its 2024 schedule Thursday, complete with exact dates, game times and TV networks for the first three weeks of the season (and a bit more). The league’s full slate is set to be revealed on June 11.

As part of the conference’s new exclusive media rights deal with Disney/ESPN, the SEC suddenly has the ability to map out its schedule weeks in advance, which is fantastic for fans. 

And yet, the wait continues on what the future of the SEC’s schedule might look like in 2026. 

On the eve of this week’s SEC Spring Meetings, commissioner Greg Sankey said he didn’t “expect a lot of conversation here about football scheduling.”

“Given all that’s happening around us, scheduling kind of is out there (to be determined later), and we continue to talk about it,” Sankey added. 

With so much focus on the fallout of the House vs. NCAA settlement, the schedule wasn’t even on the official agenda.  

Only by the time they started to break down the SEC signage inside the Hilton Hotel on Thursday, there had been plenty of scheduling scuttlebutt — from Sankey to ADs and football coaches throughout the week. 

To be clear: The conference is still no closer to a definitive model (be it 8-versus-9 or pods or any of the other 40 models they studied) in 2026, but there’s a greater understanding as to why now. 

At least so it seems. 

As I see it, the SEC has essentially hit pause for three reasons: 

1. It wants more money from ESPN for a ninth conference game — which would be particularly beneficial in today’s new climate where schools are even more desperate for added revenue as athletic departments must now combat major financial challenges in the wake of the recent bombshell settlement. 
2. The SEC wants to evaluate how the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff will value/weigh strength of schedule and conferences that play nine league games (Big Ten and Big 12) versus eight (SEC and ACC). 
3. Potential further conference expansion. 

Working backward first, Sankey was very diplomatic in his answers about any potential SEC expansion moving forward. He made a joke about ditching his 14-team belt in lieu of a new one with the official additions of Texas and Oklahoma, and quipped he won’t be able to read the 6-point font if they keep adding teams to the conference’s pinwheel logo. 

“We respect that there are agreements and situations that prevent a lot of movement, so our focus has been on our 16,” Sankey said.

“But, I pay attention,” he added.

So do I, and I see Florida State and Clemson actively suing the ACC, with other attractive brands like North Carolina, Miami or Virginia Tech possibly flailing in the winds. 

I see Sankey say in one breath how he wants to work with the Big Ten on how to best find a resolution for so many challenges in college athletics right now, and at the same time specifically state, “I want to be clear, it’s not an alliance.”

The SEC is clearly keeping its options open. 

Whether a program like FSU is a potential target down the road remains to be seen. Florida AD Scott Stricklin even delved into the possibility when asked about whether or not the Gators would block the Seminoles from joining the SEC.

“No school has a veto in this league,” Stricklin said. 

“If you get 3/4 of the league to support expansion, we’re going to expand. Anybody who made our league better, we’d be supportive of joining the SEC.”   

With the realignment winds likely to howl again, the SEC does not seem interested in making a 2026 schedule and then possibly having to rip it up for a new one. 

In the same vein, multiple ADs, as well as Sankey, acknowledged the league wants to see how the CFP fills out the 12-team field in 2024 — even for a single season of data. 

As Stricklin pondered, how will the committee view a 9-3 team that played eight Top 25 teams versus a 12-0 school against a cupcake schedule? Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione expressed a similar question, wondering aloud how the CFP will consider “very challenging schedules.”  

Future juicy non-conference matchups are already in danger because of these very hypotheticals, and it could be used as a potential sticking point against a nine-game slate in 2026 and beyond, too. 

Or maybe not?

Outside of good, ole’ Sam Pittman — and God bless Arkansas’ head coach who continues to rattle off antiquated reasons as to why he prefers an eight-game league schedule — more and more of the SEC seems to be coming around on a nine-game slate in the future. 

Texas AD Chris Del Conte, as well as Castiglione, both told me they were in favor of nine conference games. We know Florida, Georgia, LSU and others are in that camp, too. 

And with the new financial realities now facing everyone, some schools once against the nine-game model might be much more inclined to add another league game for an added boon in revenue. 

Sankey spoke of the recent “healthy conversations” he’s had with his league’s members regarding scheduling, as well as the SEC’s TV rights partner. They want more money from the World Wide Leader, and they have a pretty good sales-pitch. 

“We had conversations with ESPN’s leadership a couple weeks ago just to re-engage, to help them understand that if we stay at eight what’s absent from the schedule,” Sankey said. 

More specifically: Look at all these awesome games— Texas-Texas A&M, Texas-Georgia, Oklahoma-Alabama, Oklahoma-Tennessee — and imagine not wanting more of those. 

“Now that we’re in it, and we’ll experience the renewal of some of these rivalries and some of these games, that will shape some of the thinking too,” Sankey added.  

At the 2023 SEC Spring Meetings, Sankey said, “Nobody wants to go through this every year.”

A year later, the league decided to focus on “more immediate issues,” but the why is much more clear this time around at least. 

At some point, the SEC will land on a future scheduling model. The clock is ticking, after all. 

“We’ve got some time, but not a lot of time,” Sankey said.