Big Ten open to meeting SEC scheduling demand for CFP expansion: Key concession could help birth 24-team field — SkimNews
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- Big Ten is willing to require its teams to play 10 games against power-conference opponents — the scheduling concession the SEC laid out in a memo to CFP executives — in exchange for the SEC's support of a 24-team field
- SEC specified the standard as 10 "qualifying events" counting games against power-conference opponents or Notre Dame; what that means for smaller Group of Six programs remains unclear
- Big Ten has wanted 24 teams since early 2025 expansion talks while SEC has backed 16 or the current 12-team format; the ACC, Big 12 and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua backed the 24-team model this spring, leaving SEC commissioner Greg Sankey isolated on his 16-team model
- Sankey told colleagues the SEC must recoup roughly $100 million it would lose by eliminating its conference championship game, which any 16- or 24-team expansion would require
- CFP executives face a Dec. 1 contractual deadline to decide whether the 12-team field expands for next season, and spent two hours on a call Tuesday discussing whether to trigger a mandatory 30-day negotiating window with ESPN, which holds sole rights up to 14 teams
- Army-Navy game remains another hurdle — Navy opposes moving the game to the first Saturday in December to clear space for eight first-round playoff games, and President Trump signed an executive order protecting its broadcast window
Why it matters: The two conferences that can unilaterally kill CFP expansion appear to be breaking their year-long standoff ahead of a Dec. 1 deadline. A 24-team field would create 12 additional games and open broadcast rights beyond ESPN's sole control — but Sankey still needs to recoup roughly $100 million lost from ending the SEC title game, and the Army-Navy scheduling clash remains unresolved.
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