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SEC alternative to the Playoff? The Athletic’s Andy Staples discusses potential avenues SEC could explore

Adam Spencer

By Adam Spencer

Published:

The College Football Playoff won’t expand until at least 2026 after conference leaders couldn’t reach an agreement during recent meetings.

What’s the next step? There have been some rumblings that the SEC could form its own tournament and leave the other conferences behind.

The Athletic’s Andy Staples joined “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX on Thursday morning to discuss that possibility:

“You could do something completely different,” Staples said. “You could kind of just rip it all up and say, ‘Well, let’s try something else.’ … What would your alternative be if you’re the SEC? To say, if you guys want to do your own thing without us, that’s cool, we don’t really need you. … If you don’t have the SEC and you don’t have the Big Ten, then you don’t have a national playoff. It’s a big threat to say, ‘Well, we might not be involved.’ That changes the amount of money the playoff is worth. … One idea I heard kind of spitballed I thought was great was an SEC Tournament. You’re going to have 16 teams. Even if they go to 9 conference games, you’re still missing 6 teams a year. … You could probably get some really intriguing matchups given that lineup. If you do a 6-team tournament or an 8-team tournament with 3 weekends and it culminates with an SEC Championship Game kicked off at 8 p.m. on Jan. 1 and then you just keep all the money from that if you’re the SEC. And you say, ‘Look, if y’all want to do your own tournament and crown your champ on Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl, we can have your champ play our champ on a Monday down the road and we call that team the national champ, that’ll be fine.'”

What will happen next? That remains unclear at this point. But, if we know one thing about SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, it’s that he’ll consider everything and take his time to make sure he makes the right decision for the future of the league.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 14 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.

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