Money, Power and Playoff Expansion: Greg Sankey Addresses College Football’s Future

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Before the Southeastern Conference spring meetings officially began Tuesday, league commissioner Greg Sankey was already steering the conversation toward the future of the College Football Playoff, meeting with media members at the Sandestin Hilton Resort in the Florida panhandle and addressing what most were thinking.

When will the College Football Playoff expand from 12 teams to 18 or even 24?

And Sankey is not expecting an agreement with the 16 members of the SEC in attendance for the next few days.

“I don’t think consensus is needed,” Sankey said.

“I’d start first and we did this at the beginning of the month with our athletics directors with a clear set of communications from me on why we are where we are, some reminders of the process and education about really all we’ve looked at. So, we’ve looked at– back in the four (team playoff) days — we looked at all kinds of models. I’ve seen others haven’t spent time on models. We’ll look at a variety of ideas but really look at the process of how we come to conclusions, whether its remaining at 12 or some other number.”

Times have changed since those days just a few short years ago.

“It’s really important from my perspective, and if I look at my notes because I wrote out elements of what needs to be understood,” Sankey recalled about an earlier meeting. “I said that in Las Colinas when we went from four (teams) to 12, remember the old days when the first thing you would be asked is about the health of the participants.”

Those days seem to be a distant memory. Now, money is the overwhelming driving factor in the College Football Playoff. Especially television money.

“We need to understand the marketplace,” Sankey said. “December and January are crowded months for football, particularly on days where you’d be seeking to play college football games in a playoff that could be expanded and what happens in the regular season?”

That is a good question. Some have wondered if an expanded playoff format could diminish the regular college football season. Could there be a time in the future when Ole Miss is assured of a playoff spot, so it rests its starters in the Egg Bowl?

That scenario is a thought for the future. This week, Sankey hopes to formulate an idea of how the playoffs will be structured and he is looking to share that information with the conference officials assembled at the beach.

“I think part of our educational effort is understanding the selection process now,” Sankey said. “So, if we came out with better understanding of that information, when new information may be available, to inform a decision, the decision-making timeline both internally and for the college football playoff, that would be a productive use of time.”

Indeed, it would be a great resolution to the spring meetings. And in the past, it could happen. But in the present, there are many other factors that will shape the future of the playoffs.

A big one is high-paying boosters wanting national championships now.

“Now in this environment, I think whoever asked me the question, about things changing, I think one of the things that’s changed is that there are a lot more people putting economic heft behind expecting an outcome,” Sankey said. “That’s not driven by court decisions per se or settlements or the CSC or the format size. There’re just higher expectations because there’s more people touching our teams directly. I think there are limits to that and that goes back to evaluating what’s the right threshold for teams that can compete at a level high enough to win a national championship and understand there’s a lot that goes into that too. I’ve never thought of football as a tournament sport.”

Well, it seems the rest of the world thinks of college football that way. It appears Sankey has some work to do this week.