SEC commissioner questions Big Ten's 24-team CFP push given conference's previous stance

This week, the Southeastern Conference's leaders, including school presidents, athletic directors and several others are meeting in Destin, Fla. The annual event is part of the conference's spring meetings, and various things like conference expansion, conference championship games and various other topics. 

One of the stories coming out in recent weeks is the expansion of the College Football Playoff. While the current system of 12 teams will continue until at least the 2026-27 season, in recent weeks the ACC. Big Ten and Big 12 have all supported the system expanding to 24 teams. 

One big holdout includes the SEC, which has been adamant about expanding only to as many as 16 teams. In recent weeks, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has stumped hard for switching to 24 teams. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday evening, Sankey told reporters that he was surprised of Petitti's stance, since the Big Ten conference is the one who initially proposed expanding to just 16 teams: 

“I was surprised by that since they brought 16 to the table,” Sankey said via On3Sports. “When we were meeting last year, all those 16 ideas weren’t ours, and probably some of the outcomes. There’s probably clarity that they have looked at 16, just not much of late. He’d [Tony] have to explain their positioning."

Meetings like the ones happening this week are where decisions like CFP expansion and changing conference title games are made. So, will any big decisions happen regarding the conference's stance on expanding the CFP further? According to Sankey, don't expect any news to come out of Destin this week. 

While there are obvious benefits to expanding the CFP, like more access to teams and more money for teams that make the field, the expansion would drastically devalue the regular season. 

It would also put at major risk having conference championship games, given the number of games teams would have to play during the postseason. Sankey also added that the conference is quite committed to playing the SEC Championship Game in the future:

The commissioner added that the playoff expanding from four to 12 teams was "monumental," and that they should be careful about how far they expand the system: 

While Sankey may have been downplaying the issue a bit heading into a bit, you can bet it will continue to be a big topic of conversation this week in Destin. 

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