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Good news per The Athletic, it's looking likely that the SEC
Posted on: May 31, 2023 at 14:16:24 CT
zounami MU
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will stick with an 8-game schedule for now:
https://theathletic.com/4568416/2023/05/31/sec-college-football-schedule-decision/
For you poor folk, here's the article:
DESTIN, Fla. — A long-term decision on the SEC football schedule appears unlikely this week, based on the comments of several athletic directors during Wednesday’s portion of SEC meetings.
There could be a short-term decision made to continue with an eight-game format when Oklahoma and Texas join in 2024. But one athletic director downplayed the need to announce anything this week.
“We’re not gonna shrivel up and die if we don’t know what the schedule for the next four years is,” Arkansas
said. “It’s not that big a deal.”
Several reasons were cited for punting yet again on whether to expand to nine games.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne cited uncertainty about the role strength of schedule would play in determining the field for the 12-team College Football Playoff, which begins next year. Byrne also pointed to Alabama having a number of power-conference games scheduled into the future that might have to be revisited if the SEC expanded to nine.
Asked if there was enough information to vote on a new schedule, Byrne answered: “No.” But when asked if the conference needs to go through the 2024 season, with the 12-team Playoff field, to know that, he said he didn’t think so. He was then asked when the conference would have enough information.
“I don’t know for sure. It’s kind of in pieces right now,” Byrne said.
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, cited the cost and logistics of buying out nonconference games in 2024 (and beyond) if the SEC added another conference game. But at least one school — Arkansas — has a clause in its nonconference contracts that it can get out of any game if the SEC expands its conference schedule. Yuracheck wasn’t sure if other SEC schools did.
There remains plenty of support for eventually going to nine games, with LSU among the schools at the forefront in favor.
[...]
But the SEC has been hoping for an increased financial guarantee from ESPN for adding a conference game, as an inducement to schools worried about losing income from a nonconference home game. But ESPN officials, who are in town this week and met with SEC officials on Wednesday, have so far not made any guarantees.
So the decision to punt on a long-term decision could still simply be about waiting for the SEC and ESPN to come to an agreement.
[...]
Sankey has been coy about when the conference needs to announce any schedule for 2024. He pointed to the last expansion when Missouri and Texas A&M were announced in the fall of 2011 and a schedule was developed quickly enough for the 2012 season. But in that case, the SEC kept an eight-game schedule and simply added each team to one division. This time, divisions are being eliminated and an entirely new model is being put in.
The benefit of a stopgap schedule is the traditional rivalries can be preserved, at least for 2024: Georgia would go to Auburn, Alabama would go to Tennessee, and the storied rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M would be renewed. Those are rivalries that would not be played on an annual basis in a regular eight-game schedule, but if 2024 is a one-off, they can be played.
South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner was asked about the possibility of the stopgap schedule plan.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see because if I said one thing, then Friday could be something different,” Tanner said, pointing to when the presidents vote.
There are complications to a stopgap schedule in 2024: Are games just one-offs, not home-and-homes, a la the 2020 season, with a new rotation starting in 2025? Or does that make it more likely to do a two-year stopgap schedule through the 2025 season? That would neatly coincide with the start of the 2026 season when a new CFP television contract is expected to bring in more money and could allay the financial fears of the SEC’s smaller schools.
That could end up being the temporary solution. But the chances of a permanent one this week seem slim.
“Never say never,” Tanner said. “There’s still a lot of dialogue going on at this point, and certainly the presidents and chancellors with us in the decision-making phase on Friday. But there’s a lot of dialogue on the two formats.”
https://theathletic.com/4568416/2023/05/31/sec-college-football-schedule-decision/
For you poor folk, here's the article:
DESTIN, Fla. — A long-term decision on the SEC football schedule appears unlikely this week, based on the comments of several athletic directors during Wednesday’s portion of SEC meetings.
There could be a short-term decision made to continue with an eight-game format when Oklahoma and Texas join in 2024. But one athletic director downplayed the need to announce anything this week.
“We’re not gonna shrivel up and die if we don’t know what the schedule for the next four years is,” Arkansas
said. “It’s not that big a deal.”Several reasons were cited for punting yet again on whether to expand to nine games.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne cited uncertainty about the role strength of schedule would play in determining the field for the 12-team College Football Playoff, which begins next year. Byrne also pointed to Alabama having a number of power-conference games scheduled into the future that might have to be revisited if the SEC expanded to nine.
Asked if there was enough information to vote on a new schedule, Byrne answered: “No.” But when asked if the conference needs to go through the 2024 season, with the 12-team Playoff field, to know that, he said he didn’t think so. He was then asked when the conference would have enough information.
“I don’t know for sure. It’s kind of in pieces right now,” Byrne said.
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, cited the cost and logistics of buying out nonconference games in 2024 (and beyond) if the SEC added another conference game. But at least one school — Arkansas — has a clause in its nonconference contracts that it can get out of any game if the SEC expands its conference schedule. Yuracheck wasn’t sure if other SEC schools did.
There remains plenty of support for eventually going to nine games, with LSU among the schools at the forefront in favor.
[...]
But the SEC has been hoping for an increased financial guarantee from ESPN for adding a conference game, as an inducement to schools worried about losing income from a nonconference home game. But ESPN officials, who are in town this week and met with SEC officials on Wednesday, have so far not made any guarantees.
So the decision to punt on a long-term decision could still simply be about waiting for the SEC and ESPN to come to an agreement.
[...]
Sankey has been coy about when the conference needs to announce any schedule for 2024. He pointed to the last expansion when Missouri and Texas A&M were announced in the fall of 2011 and a schedule was developed quickly enough for the 2012 season. But in that case, the SEC kept an eight-game schedule and simply added each team to one division. This time, divisions are being eliminated and an entirely new model is being put in.
The benefit of a stopgap schedule is the traditional rivalries can be preserved, at least for 2024: Georgia would go to Auburn, Alabama would go to Tennessee, and the storied rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M would be renewed. Those are rivalries that would not be played on an annual basis in a regular eight-game schedule, but if 2024 is a one-off, they can be played.
South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner was asked about the possibility of the stopgap schedule plan.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see because if I said one thing, then Friday could be something different,” Tanner said, pointing to when the presidents vote.
There are complications to a stopgap schedule in 2024: Are games just one-offs, not home-and-homes, a la the 2020 season, with a new rotation starting in 2025? Or does that make it more likely to do a two-year stopgap schedule through the 2025 season? That would neatly coincide with the start of the 2026 season when a new CFP television contract is expected to bring in more money and could allay the financial fears of the SEC’s smaller schools.
That could end up being the temporary solution. But the chances of a permanent one this week seem slim.
“Never say never,” Tanner said. “There’s still a lot of dialogue going on at this point, and certainly the presidents and chancellors with us in the decision-making phase on Friday. But there’s a lot of dialogue on the two formats.”
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Good news per The Athletic, it's looking likely that the SEC - zounami MU - 5/31 14:16:24