AUSTIN, Texas — Talks remain ongoing regarding a possible scheduling agreement between the Big Ten and the SEC. Over the weekend, CBS Sports spoke with both SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Texas president Jay Hartzell about the possibility of the two superpower conferences coming together for future regular-season games.
CBS Sports confirmed last week that the Big Ten and SEC were in preliminary talks to play nonconference games against each other as a way to enhance schedule strength.
“The movement in the economic setting around college sports is widening the gap between the haves and have nots around college sports,” Hartzell told CBS Sports prior to Saturday’s Texas vs. Georgia game. “Whether that’s a good or bad thing, it’s happening.
“As part of that, all those forces, the big brands are looking to do things together in some way. Could be just play each other more. Doesn’t have to be grandiose, but find ways to make the stage a little bigger, make the platform reach a little farther. Those discussions could be one tool for that.”
The Big Ten and SEC met last week in Nashville. The mere existence of that meeting indicated what looks like an increasingly cozy relationship atop the college football pyramid.
USA Today first reported the scheduling news, adding the agreement could include 12 to 16 games per year. However, getting out of existing nonconference game contracts could take years, sources told CBS Sports.
The two conferences already have a growing influence over college athletics. The SEC and Big Ten combined will get 58%
of College Football Playoff revenue beginning in 2026 when the new TV contract goes into effect. They are in the middle of the two richest media rights deals ever signed with the combined value surpassing $10 billion.
“There are several ways to approach it,” Sankey told reporters. “We will have more Big Ten-SEC games in future years than we did in previous years. That’s a process of the schools [having already scheduled nonconference games].
“We could do something much more intentional. All of those are relevant conversations. I don’t overpredict things. Keep in mind, there have been these football scheduling efforts before and they haven’t worked out. I’m intentionally careful of not overpredicting. I think it’s a meaningful conversation when you stand in Ann Arbor and watch Texas play Michigan. You think about, ‘Wow, can we make this happen more frequently.'”
Schools in both conferences already have several Power Four nonconference opponents lined up on future schedules. For example, Texas is already playing both Ohio State and Michigan in home-and-home matchups through 2027. Texas won at Michigan last month, planting the seed for more discussions between the two conferences.
“We’ll be the living case study,” Hartzell said.
“You saw this in the way the playoff deal was structured,” he added. “These two big conferences have out-sized eyeballs, clout, compared to the others. It’s only natural at a time of incredible uncertainty in college sports that people get around the table legally what they can do.”
Schedule strength for the two leagues can’t get much stronger. Big Ten and SEC teams combine for 12 of the top 27 toughest schedules, according to the NCAA metric.
Alabama and UCLA are 1-2 in schedule strength.
Discussions also continue regarding access to the CFP field beginning in 2026. The idea was floated earlier this year of a 14-team field in which the Big Ten and SEC would each receive four automatic qualifying bids. The Big 12 and ACC, meanwhile, would get two each.
That concept was met with pushback and the idea was tabled.
The FBS commissioners have decided to wait until after this season and the first iteration of a 12-team playoff to take up that discussion. CBS Sports learned that group is expected to meet next week to discuss a wide variety of subjects.
“We are AQs [without getting automatic bids],” Sankey said regarding the strength of his conference. “When we went through and the process and I had colleagues that wouldn’t vote unless they had AQs, I was like, ‘You guys are AQs based on the way you operate.'”
A final CFP format and structure for 2026 from the FBS commissioners and presidents isn’t due to ESPN until December 2025.
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