The new proposed SEC Championship Format is built for TV not for College Football

While the tagline for the SEC is "It just means more," it's now trending toward just meaning more games, more money, and more changes to the sport. The Big Ten and SEC have been discussing potential changes to the College Football Playoff (CFP) format after its first year expanding to 12 teams. There are ongoing talks about increasing the Playoff field to 14 or even 16 teams as soon as the 2026 season, with the Big Ten and SEC reportedly pushing for four guaranteed bids each.

On3's Pete Nakos recently outlined the proposed SEC Championship formats being considered, and frankly, they’re utterly ridiculous.

The two primary formats being discussed use the previous season's SEC standings as a model. One scenario would have the top two teams playing for the SEC Championship, both securing automatic bids, while the next four teams would compete for additional spots. The other format is even more radical, featuring an eight-team bracket in which the winner of each game earns a Playoff bid.

The first format is problematic because it essentially forces two of the conference’s top teams to play an extra game, despite already earning their way into the top two. This adds an unnecessary hurdle that could eliminate a team that deserves a spot, ultimately devaluing the regular season.

The second format, however, is by far the worst, and college football fans should take serious issue with it. Under this proposal, no true SEC Champion would be crowned. Historically, winning the conference has been a significant achievement, but now, that tradition is being thrown away simply to add another week of games for the conferences and TV networks to sell.

Simply put, this proposal is a made-for-TV product rather than one built with the integrity of the sport or the desires of the fans in mind. While the SEC and Big Ten have undeniably been the dominant conferences in recent years, why is there already a push to adjust the number of bids they receive after just one expanded season? If these conferences are truly superior, shouldn’t their teams naturally earn those bids based on their performance on the field rather than through an artificially structured system designed to give teams the benefit of the doubt?

By allowing the top 6-8 SEC teams to essentially play their way into the CFP, upsets during the regular season would lose their significance. If Alabama were to get shocked by Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, it wouldn't matter—they'd still get a shot at an SEC title. If LSU were to blow its chances by losing to Florida, it wouldn’t matter, nor would a loss to Alabama—because they'd simply get another opportunity to play them again.

Rather than crowning an actual SEC Champion and rather than sending the best teams throughout the season to the College Football Playoff the Conference is instead looking for a way to add more drama to the season.

The fans themselves voiced their displeasure with the format in the comment section of the post driving home the point that no one actually wants this change.

At what point are the people in charge of college football going to let changes play out before making another seismic shift? In just the past few seasons, players have gone from being amateurs to earning NIL deals and now, potentially, revenue sharing. The SEC, Big Ten, and ACC have already added teams from other conferences, further shaking up the sport, while talks of a potential mega-conference still linger. The College Football Playoff just expanded to 12 teams, yet we’re already discussing another format change despite the fact that the team everyone crowned in the preseason ended up winning it all anyway which shouldn't happen in a "flawed format".

Right now, most college football fans just want a finalized product. Every season, the sport undergoes constant changes, and rather than more tweaks and adjustments, fans are begging the commissioners to settle on a format—and stick to it.

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