Greg Sankey releases statement on SEC Championship Game ending with CFP expansion
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Greg Sankey spoke on Monday about an SEC tradition that suddenly will be ending after this year amid Monday morning’s announcement of the College Football Playoff expanding from 12 to 24 teams.
With the Playoff doubling in size starting with the 2027 season, the 2026 SEC Championship Game will become the final SEC Championship Game, ending a new-age tradition that dated back to the first SEC title game in 1992.
But the SEC title game that began in 1992 at Legion Field in Birmingham and continued there in 1993 before moving to Atlanta in 1994 will go by the wayside starting next season because of the Playoff expansion. That means this year’s game, scheduled for Dec. 5 in Atlanta, the city where the spectacle became a fixture, will be the final installment of the annual early December grudge match between the SEC’s 2 elite teams that year.
It’ll be the 35th edition of the SEC title game, and the tradition will end there, and the SEC commissioner released a statement on Monday in light of the end of that special SEC tradition.
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Here is Sankey’s statement on the SEC title game ending:
The SEC Football Championship Game has been a defining event in college football for more than three decades, producing unforgettable moments and crowing legendary champions. What began with the vision and leadership of Commissioner Roy Kramer in 1992 helped reshape the landscape of college football and established a tradition that has endured for 35 years. As the sport evolves with an expanded College Football Playoff, we look forward to celebrating the remarkable legacy of this event with its 35th and final edition and recognizing the city of Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and AMB Sports and Entertainment, and the many partners who have contributed to its success.
Starting next season, there will be no familiar SEC title game that brings the conference together each early December in Atlanta, and Sankey wanted to pay tribute on Monday to its enduring success that carried on through this year.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
