{"id":346300,"date":"2026-07-20T18:29:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/346300\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T18:29:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:29:53","slug":"greg-sankey-sec-has-time-to-consider-future-of-championship-game-as-conference-enters-9-game-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/346300\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Sankey: SEC has time to consider future of championship game as conference enters 9-game schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. (WBRC<\/a>) – As the College Football Playoff has expanded since its inception in 2014, confidence in the importance of conference championship games has wavered.<\/p>\n

\"SECSEC Commissioner Greg Sankey SEC Media Days on Monday, July 20 2026 in Tampa, Florida. Todd Van Emst\/SEC(Todd Van Emst\/SEC | Todd Van Emst\/SEC)<\/p>\n

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, speaking in Tampa at the 2026 SEC Football Media Days<\/a>, said that while contracts are in place for the conference championship game beyond this season, they have time to consider its future.<\/p>\n

He said the move to the 12-team College Football Playoff<\/a> created pressure around conference championships across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked through the factors that support the pro list, and we\u2019ve talked about some of the con list, if you will, the negatives that need to be considered,\u201d Sankey said. \u201cWe have some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the SEC considers the future of its football championship, the national conversation around the College Football Playoff is ongoing.<\/p>\n

That conversation, however, is not new. Sankey said there has been talk about the format since the CFP was created.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose conversations are important, but our approach has remained consistent,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not necessarily interested in finding the easiest path. We are focused on finding the right path for college football.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe College Football Playoff announced Tuesday the kickoff times and dates for the 2025-26 postseason. (Photo\/Julian Alexander)(Julian Alexander | Julian Alexander)<\/p>\n

The considerations the SEC has put into that format include respecting the academic calendar and well-being of the student-athletes and rewarding excellence while providing meaningful post-season opportunities.<\/p>\n

At the top of his list, however, was preserving and building the value of the regular season.<\/p>\n

For the SEC, that regular season<\/a> gets bigger this year as the conference moves to a nine-game schedule<\/a> for the first time in its history.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we, and I, recognize that a nine-game Southeastern Conference football schedule, coupled with our expectation that we maintain a high-quality non-conference opponent, creates one of the most – in fact, I\u2019m going to scratch what I wrote – it creates, without question, the most demanding sets of football schedules in all of college football,\u201d Sankey said about the schedule change.<\/p>\n

He said the decision came after years of discussion, analysis and debate.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe SEC logo on the field inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium prior to the 2023 SEC Championship Game.(Ashlee Winborne | WBRC)<\/p>\n

The nine-game format is nothing new for major college football as the Big Ten began playing nine conference games in 2017. That conference, despite the added challenge, has won the last three College Football Playoff National Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nine-game schedule reflects confidence in our universities, our student athletes and in our football programs,\u201d Sankey said. \u201cIt preserves great rivalries, historic rivalries, many of which are played every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added he believes the new format creates the kind of week-to-week competition that exists in the SEC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should also embrace the challenges with a difficult and challenging conference schedule, the best schedule in college football,\u201d Sankey said.<\/p>\n

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store<\/a> and Google Play Store<\/a> or subscribe to our email newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WBRC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (WBRC) – As the College Football Playoff has expanded since its inception in 2014, confidence in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[19227,10241,143,3070,8025,8023,83809,139648,8031,115,62,141816,139598,110,135,137,136,8021],"class_list":["post-346300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-cfp","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-college-football","tag-conference","tag-fox-6","tag-fox6","tag-greg-sankey","tag-media-days","tag-myfoxal","tag-news","tag-sec","tag-sec-championship","tag-sec-media-days","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-wbrc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}