Sources: Big Ten, SEC to talk possible scheduling partnership

Big Ten and SEC athletic directors will discuss a possible partnership in football scheduling, along with their preferences for automatic bids, in the next iteration of the College Football Playoff.

The discussion is to take place at an in-person meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, next week, multiple sources from both conferences told ESPN on Monday.

The meeting is a continuation of the Big Ten-SEC joint advisory group, which was formed in February and includes the leagues’ university presidents, chancellors and athletic directors. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti are scheduled to meet with the athletic directors for one day.

“There is hope that we can definitely move the needle and make some progress on different things,” one Big Ten source said.

The future scheduling partnership could hinge on whether the SEC eventually decides to go to nine conference games — a topic one SEC source said hasn’t been a focus of conversations lately. Some Big Ten athletic directors could push back on any agreement if the SEC doesn’t move to nine games, because the Big Ten already plays nine league opponents.

“If we’re all going to figure this out,” one source said, “we’ve got to be on equal footing.”

Sources in both leagues told ESPN on Monday they would prefer to have potentially four automatic bids each to the playoff when the next contract begins in 2026. CFP leaders haven’t determined yet what the playoff will look like beyond this season and next. Some said they need to know that before making any decisions about future scheduling partnerships.

“I’m for anything that gives us the maximum number of postseason opportunities,” one SEC source said. “I don’t count bowl games as postseason opportunities.”

Some have also expressed interest in limiting the role of the 13-member selection committee — or eliminating it entirely.

“I think anything we can do to take the subjectivity of a committee off the table is really helpful,” the SEC source said. “We may not be able to completely get rid of subjectivity the more we can minimize it. And so Tony Petitti’s idea of multiple automatic spots for a conference has a lot of value. I’m not sure four is the right number.”
While the future CFP format is a long way from being determined, guaranteed bids for eight of the 14 playoff spots to the SEC and Big Ten would receive significant pushback from others and already has. 

In March, the CFP and ESPN announced a new six-year, $7.8 billion contract that runs through the 2031-32 season. ESPN secured a six-year agreement that will cost $1.3 billion annually beginning in the 2026-27 season. The contract is built as either 11 or 13 games — all of which are playoff games — in a 12- or 14-team field. There are protections in place for the ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 conference champions, Notre Dame, and the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion in the new contract.

In order for some guarantees, though, the other FBS conferences and Notre Dame surrendered the bulk of control over the future format to the SEC and Big Ten.

Sources hesitated to say any concrete decisions will be made next week, but Big Ten athletic directors have a regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday in which they hope to prepare talking points that could produce “real, concrete things.”