Why the SEC & Big Ten’s College Football Playoff Power Grab Could Backfire

Why the SEC & Big Ten’s College Football Playoff Power Grab Could Backfire

The SEC and Big Ten already run college football. They command the best television deals, dominate recruiting rankings, and, as of last year, have the power to dictate the future of the College Football Playoff (CFP). But just because Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti can strong-arm an automatic four-team bid for each of their leagues in the expanded playoff doesn’t mean they should—especially when doing so risks alienating the vast majority of the sport’s fan base.

Proposed Expansion and Its Imbalance

News broke earlier this week that momentum is building within the SEC and Big Ten to expand the CFP to either 14 or 16 teams starting in 2026. Under the proposed structure, the SEC and Big Ten would each receive four automatic qualifiers (AQs), while the ACC and Big 12 would get two, the Group of Five champion would receive one, and the final spot would be reserved as an at-large, ostensibly for Notre Dame if it finishes in the Top 14. The 16-team format would add two additional at-large bids.

At first glance, this might seem reasonable. The SEC and Big Ten have controlled the sport’s upper tier for the better part of two decades, and even in the current 12-team format, they combined for seven of the available playoff spots in 2024.

But codifying an auto-bid imbalance risks further marginalizing the majority of college football’s fan base—roughly three-fourths of which cheers for programs outside these two super-leagues.

Threat to College Football’s Inclusivity

This format doesn’t just diminish the sport’s inclusivity—it directly contradicts the entire point of playoff expansion. The CFP was supposed to make access fairer, reduce controversy, and ensure deserving teams didn’t get left out due to subjective biases.

Instead, this proposal guarantees a future where the selection committee’s power is stripped away in favor of a predetermined setup that benefits two leagues over the rest of the country.

Was This a Strategic Leak?

It’s worth considering that Sankey and Petitti may have strategically floated this proposal ahead of their meeting in New Orleans this week to test the waters.

By leaking their preferred format through Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, they could gauge media and fan reaction before finalizing their plans. If that’s the case, there’s still hope that they will show some restraint and avoid implementing such an unbalanced structure.

SEC and Big Ten Already Control the CFP

The reality is that expanding to 14 or 16 teams all but guarantees the SEC and Big Ten will receive the four playoff bids they seek annually. In 2024, they accounted for seven of the 12 teams in the playoff, a number that would naturally rise with expansion.

There is no pressing need to hard-code automatic spots for the Big 2 in the expanded playoff—especially when it risks damaging college football’s broader appeal.

A Warning from Failed Football Leagues

We’ve seen what happens when a league assumes fans will blindly follow a product simply because it’s the product. Look no further than the XFL and USFL, which have consistently failed to capture meaningful interest despite football’s overwhelming popularity.

College football isn’t the NFL, nor should it try to be. Fans care about their schools, their rivalries, and the traditions that make this sport unique. Natties are nice, but they aren’t the primary driver of passion.

Pride, history and hatred fuel the sport more than anything else.

Potential Unintended Consequences

The SEC and Big Ten should also be wary of unintended consequences. If they proceed with this four-team AQ plan, ACC and Big 12 schools might reconsider their willingness to participate in the CFP altogether.

No, they aren’t going to break off and form their own tournament, but if the CFP becomes nothing more than an SEC-Big Ten invitational, it’s only a matter of time before the other leagues find alternative ways to maximize their value outside of a playoff system that clearly doesn’t want them.

The Risk of Playoff Fatigue

Imagine how stale things could get if this format is adopted. We’ve already seen fatigue set in with the same matchups appearing in the playoffs year after year.

Now imagine a world where an eight-win Big Ten or SEC team is guaranteed a playoff spot over a 10- or 11-win team from the Big 12 or ACC. Fans will lose interest. Television ratings will suffer.

Something few have highlighted in Dellenger's article was the revelation that even ESPN—an SEC-Big Ten business partner—has reportedly cautioned against a format that so blatantly cuts out 75% of the sport.

The Impact on the Regular Season

More importantly, the excitement of the regular season could be diminished. If you’re a mid-tier SEC or Big Ten team, why stress over tough out-of-conference games when your bid is locked in?

What’s the incentive for programs to take risks when mediocrity still results in a golden ticket to the dance?

A Plea for Balance

Sankey and Petitti have every right to wield the power they seized last spring, but they should be careful how they use it. The last thing they want is to turn college football into a two-league-only enterprise where the rest of the sport is treated like an afterthought.

If the goal is to build something sustainable that enhances fan engagement and excitement, they should rethink whether guaranteeing four AQs for themselves is really the right move.

Again, just because they can doesn’t mean they should.

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Jason Watkins is the founder of HOF Media and a veteran sports journalist with almost two decades of experience covering college sports. He can be reached at jw@hofmedia.us ...