After all the talk and debate around an eight or nine-game SEC football schedule moving forward, the Southeastern Conference has reportedly come to a short-term decision.
On Thursday afternoon, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told reporters at the SEC summer meetings that the league will adopt an eight-game conference schedule for the 2024 season. That will be the SEC’s short-term answer to the scheduling situation following the addition of Texas and Oklahoma during the summer of 2024.
The word “temporary” has widely been used in the immediate aftermath of this announcement, signaling that the Southeastern Conference will continue to explore more long-term options with further television negotiations.
“Creating a one-year schedule will provide a longer on-ramp to manage football scheduling around existing nonconference commitments of our members,” Sankey said on Thursday according to CBS Sports. “It will also provide additional time to understand the impact of an expanded College Football Playoff and engage with our media partners as we determine the appropriate long-term plan for SEC football scheduling.”
The SEC already plays an eight-game conference schedule. Teams have previously played all six divisional opponents with the addition of two cross-division games. For instance, Tennessee’s SEC West opponents in 2022 were LSU and Alabama. So, what will change for the 2024 season?
The eight-game season in 2024, which was announced on Thursday, will feature one permanent opponent and seven rotating opponents. Ultimately, though, it will be a one-year stop-gap season with eight opponents from the pool of 16 SEC teams as the previous SEC East and SEC West format will be nixed.
The eight opponents will be randomized, but “fairness and balance” will also be taken into consideration, along with previous standing rivalries.
ESPN’s Chris Low has reported a handful of matchups that the SEC has as a “priority for the league” to preserve including Tennessee-Alabama.
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With the divisional format being taken off the table, the top two teams from the group of 16 will compete for the SEC Championship at the end of the 2024 regular season.
Fortunately, though, fans won’t have to wait long in order to find out what 2024 opponents their favorite team will be playing. The SEC will hold a television special on Wednesday, June 14 to announce the eight opponents per team.
In December of 2020, ESPN and the SEC revealed a 10-year SEC football broadcasting contract that would begin during the 2024 season. The deal gave ESPN (and ABC) the rights to broadcast 15 “premier” football games, including the SEC Championship game and big rivalries such as Alabama-Auburn.
That deal, though, was signed long before the initial addition of Texas and Oklahoma, two of the juggernauts in the world of college football and CFB broadcasting. The SEC didn’t even extend formal invitations to Texas and Oklahoma until July of 2021.
Considering Alabama-Texas was the sixth highest-watched game of the 2022 season, plus the added eyes that Oklahoma brings during big seasons, the SEC is looking to “engage with [their] media partners” further in terms of a long-term schedule.
Until then, the SEC and Commissioner Sankey will focus on a one-year eight-game schedule without divisions for the 2024 season. This conversation is far from over, though. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more on the opponent reveal on June 14.
