Greg Sankey says SEC ‘not committed’ to any College Football Playoff format

The conversation around College Football Playoff expansion has centered around 2 formats reportedly endorsed by the SEC and Big Ten, but Greg Sankey says the conference is not committed to any new format.

Sankey spoke to media members in Destin, Florida ahead of the annual SEC Spring Meetings. The CFP was a popular topic.

For more than a year, it has been reported that the SEC and Big Ten are pushing for expansion to 14 or 16 teams. In either format, the 2 leading conferences would each receive 4 automatic bids. The only difference in the 14- and 16-team formats is the number of at-large bids (1 or 3) after automatic bids for other conferences (ACC, Big 12, Group of 5, etc).

Asked about automatic bids to the CFP, Sankey said the SEC is not committed to any format. Sankey also hinted that 4 bids for the SEC could be seen as a compromise. If the CFP were to go with 5 auto bids and 11 at-large bids, the SEC could exceed 4 bids.

SEC's Greg Sankey asked about future College Football Playoff automatic qualifier proposal, reiterates: "We’re not committed at this point to something. We’re interested"

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 26, 2025

Greg Sankey says certain formats – the 4-4-2-2-1 – could actually "cost" the SEC qualifying teams.

In a top 16 or a 5AQ + 11 AL format, the SEC could get 5-6 teams in. Here's a breakdown of the number of teams by conference finishing in the top 16 the last 11 CFPs. pic.twitter.com/n0znGSwrRw

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 26, 2025

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.