July 15, 2019; Birmingham, AL, USA; SEC commissioner Greg Sankey speaks to the media during SEC Media Days at the Hyatt Regency-Birmingham. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports
All indications have been that the SEC will expand its in-conference schedule at some point after Texas and Oklahoma join the fold, but ESPN may have to pay up in order for that to happen.
The annual SEC spring meetings are set to take place this week, and one major issue that will be discussed will be an eight-game versus a nine-game conference schedule. Currently, SEC teams play eight total games within the conference — six against the other six teams in their division, one fixed cross-division rival, and one other cross-division game. The plan is to eliminate the East and West divisions and either keep the eight-game schedule, with one permanent opponent and seven rotating games, or move to a nine-game conference schedule with three permanent opponents and six rotating.
According to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, the SEC may temporarily stick with an eight-game model in 2024 when Texas and Oklahoma join the conference. One reason for that is that ESPN is under no contractual obligation to provide schools with more revenue for an additional in-conference game.
The belief is that ESPN will not commit to a revenue increase amid a round of layoffs at the company. More than half of SEC schools are in favor of remaining at eight games in 2024. Those schools feel there is no incentive to add a game which they have a better chance of losing without any additional TV revenue to show for it.
As for a number, Dellenger reports that some within the SEC believe a ninth in-conference game should be worth around $5 million per school in additional revenue.
A nine-game SEC schedule seems inevitable, but there are clearly some issues to work through. Alabama head coach Nick Saban also had one big complaint about the possible shift to nine games.
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