SEC Spring Meetings: SEC to play 8-game +1 schedule in 2024
By Kevin Miller
![SEC commissioner Greg Sankey signed a contract extension to keep him as the head of the league through 2028. Syndication/Tuscaloosa News. Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2Fa207913d2846b63a19184aadf50a16a1d4dce7607a07f9ced7b33e0d161c916d.jpg "SEC commissioner Greg Sankey signed a contract extension to keep him as the head of the league through 2028. Syndication/Tuscaloosa News. Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]")
The SEC Spring Meetings are taking place in Destin, Florida this week, and college football fans across the southeast have been anxiously awaiting news regarding the future. Several topics were up for discussion at the meetings, but, thankfully, no awful rule changes were at the forefront of the discussions this time. The biggest talking point in recent days has been the 2024 schedule.
Speculation over recent months has caused many to believe the SEC would adopt a 9-game conference schedule across the league when Texas and Oklahoma join prior to the 2024 season, something not every team in the conference supported.
Eventually, it does seem likely that the SEC will move to the 9-game model as the potential for increased revenue could become too much temptation for the league to refuse. However, with some financial troubles for ESPN (Disney) who owns the television rights deal with the conference, a payout that’s “worth it” didn’t seem realistic right now.
Falling in line with a report from Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, the athletics directors and other SEC representatives in Destin agreed with this thought and elected to have a special 1-year schedule in 2024 that will include 8 conference games, as usual. The temporary schedule rules will require programs to also schedule a ninth game out of conference against a Power-5 opponent.
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Kentucky already had this naturally built into their schedules through previously-existing rivalries with Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Louisville.
The SEC Spring Meetings also resulted in the decision to dissolve divisions. The SEC East and SEC West will no longer exist past the 2023 season, and the top two teams in the overall SEC standings will play in the SEC Championship Game at the end of the season.
The SEC electing not to sign up for a cheapened version of a television contract for a 9-game SEC slate could pay off in a big way for the conference. ESPN (or any other network) will not hold the leverage in negotiations for a new deal as Greg Sankey’s office has shown a willingness to make an 8-game schedule work.
Though not finalized at the SEC Spring Meetings, the conference plans to create a custom schedule for 2024. It is expected that at least some traditional rivalries will be upheld for the season, but it is unclear how things might change in a future 9-game format.