Commissioner Greg Sankey met with reporters on Monday as representatives from all 16 SEC universities are gathered for the annual SEC spring meetings.
The topic of College Football Playoff expansion was broached as discussions of a 24-team model have increased in recent weeks.
However, Sankey and the SEC have long been proponents of a 12-or-16-team format and he showed no signs of wavering from that position. He said that no matter how many teams are in the field, those who just miss the cut will be “angry.”
“Pick a number,” Sankey said. “Let’s go to the NCAA Basketball [Tournament]. Next year, there will be the first 4 out and those first 4 will be angry. This year, we’re at 12 and we had a couple programs angry. I think, good teams, angry that they weren’t in the top 12.”
Sankey also commented on the idea that there’s now more stakeholders and investors across college football, which could be driving the CFP expansion conversation.
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“I think one of the things that’s changing is there are a lot more people putting economic heft behind teams expecting an outcome,” Sankey said. “There’s just higher expectations because there’s more people touching our teams directly.”
The College Football Playoff will remain at 12 teams for at least the 2026 season. Any expansion for 2027 and beyond would have to be approved by the Dec. 1 deadline. The Big Ten is expected to continue to push for a 24-team model in the coming months.
Here are the latest CFP odds on Kalshi for 2026:
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
