Athletic administrators from the Large Ten and Southeastern Convention are slated to fulfill subsequent week in Nashville, Tenn., with School Soccer Playoff computerized bids and a attainable nonconference soccer scheduling association between the leagues on the agenda, three sources who will participate within the conferences mentioned Monday.
The in-person assembly set for Thursday, Oct. 10, is an extension of the Large Ten/SEC advisory committee that was fashioned earlier this yr. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Large Ten commissioner Tony Petitti are additionally scheduled to attend. The standing of the settlement of three antitrust lawsuits towards the NCAA and energy conferences can also be anticipated to be a subject of dialog — a choose is at the moment contemplating a request for preliminary approval — in addition to doubtlessly having the Large Ten and SEC face off in additional postseason bowl video games.
Yahoo! Sports activities first reported plans for ADs from the 2 conferences to fulfill in-person and talk about CFP entry and regular-season scheduling.
CFP entry and regular-season scheduling are associated, the sources mentioned, as a result of convention leaders would wish to get a greater understanding of what entry to the brand new 12-team Playoff will probably be beginning in 2026 earlier than agreeing to extend the issue of their soccer schedules.
“The scheduling goes to be an enormous one,” one of many sources mentioned. “Can we construct a scheduling coalition?”
The sources spoke to The Athletic on situation of anonymity as a result of the convention leaders weren’t talking publicly about what subjects have been deliberate to be mentioned on the assembly in Nashville.
Within the spring, the Large Ten proposed — with the SEC’s backing — having the 2 conferences obtain three or 4 computerized bids to the CFP as all of the FBS leagues have been shifting towards an settlement that locked within the expanded Playoff via the 2031 season. One plan had the SEC and Large Ten every getting three computerized bids to the CFP and the ACC and Large 12 getting two every, with one saved for the highest-ranked champion from the opposite main faculty soccer conferences.
With the 12-team format set to debut this season below earlier contracts, the 2 conferences dropped the auto-bids situation, however they did safe a revenue-sharing system that pays the SEC and Large Ten greater than 50 p.c yearly of what the CFP takes in when the brand new contract goes into impact in 2026.
The Large Ten and SEC asserting their energy and alignment has been met with some concern from the Large 12 and Atlantic Coast Convention. Large 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips expressed disappointment with the place the income sharing landed, and members of these conferences mentioned computerized entry that basically predetermines which conferences are greatest wasn’t in the very best curiosity of faculty soccer.
“The CFP is simply one other instance of our trade operating amok, they usually’re attempting to swallow the ACC and the Large 12,” Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard advised reporters earlier this yr.
Now auto-bids are again up for dialogue, with three or 4 once more anticipated to be mentioned by the SEC and Large Ten, the sources mentioned.
The CFP might additionally increase once more in 2026, from 12 to 14 groups.
Sources mentioned the athletic administrators want to talk about the potential of creating one thing much like the convention challenges which have turn out to be fashionable in faculty basketball nonconference scheduling. The concept is a bundle of SEC-Large Ten nonconference video games that might doubtlessly be bought individually to a tv community, creating a brand new income stream for each conferences. Whether or not that may very well be executed with current contracts in place is unclear.
Texas-Michigan (9.19 million viewers on Fox) and USC-LSU (8.62 million on ABC) have been the 2 most watched video games of the season via the primary 4 weeks of the 2024 schedule.
Once more, although, there are different components that might decide whether or not that’s attainable.
The SEC nonetheless has not determined whether or not it desires to extend its convention schedule from eight to 9 video games beginning in 2026. The convention is about to play subsequent season with eight, and if it provides one other league sport it might additionally like that transfer to end in more cash from ESPN. The community and the convention have a long-term settlement that doesn’t require ESPN to pay extra for extra SEC vs. SEC video games.
Additionally, a number of SEC colleges — comparable to Florida and Georgia — have long-standing annual video games with Atlantic Coast Convention rivals, and including a Large Ten sport on high might create some problems.
One supply mentioned there additionally must be consideration of the potential damaging affect that codifying a number of computerized bids for a convention would have on its title sport. Plus, with conferences being so giant — the Large Ten has 18 colleges, the SEC 16 — imbalanced league schedules can result in drastically completely different levels of problem. Would convention auto-bids merely be decided by the standings or different components, the supply puzzled?
No selections on the School Soccer Playoff could be made with out the commissioners of all of the conferences and Notre Dame’s athletic director discussing them, however not like the earlier CFP settlement, the brand new deal that begins in 2026 doesn’t require a unanimous vote to make modifications to the format.
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