The appeal of sports lies in possibilities — the possibility that every team and every athlete has a chance to win, that the competition is fair and rules are applied equally, that there is no favoritism, that there is, well, suspense and not a predetermined outcome.
Which is why what’s happening in college football is so disturbing. The Big Ten and the SEC are reportedly meeting this week to discuss the future of college football — or, rather, how they can (further) take control of college football and (further) stack the odds in their favor.
They are reportedly seeking a guarantee of four bids apiece in the College Football Playoff.
If they have their way, they would automatically qualify for two-thirds of the playoff spots before they play a single game. To put it another way, the 34 teams from those two conferences would have eight berths while the other 126 FBS teams would have four.
The Big Ten and SEC claimed a combined total of seven bids in the 12-team playoff at the end of last season. That wasn’t enough, apparently. They don’t want to be at the mercy of the College Football Playoff committee to decide how many qualifiers they are awarded.
Under the current format, the bids are awarded to the five conference champions ranked highest by the committee, plus the next seven highest ranked teams. The Big Ten had four teams in the 2024-25 CFP, the SEC three.
If they can’t earn those berths in the playoffs, they want them handed to them. More bids means more money, a bigger share of the CFP revenues.
Their greed and selfishness know no bounds.
Nobody likes scripted outcomes unless they’re pro wrestling fans. Nobody likes unfairness or even the perception of unfairness (ask the anti-Kansas City Chiefs contingent). Nobody liked it when LeBron James stacked the deck with all-star teammates so he could win championships (which definitely will affect his “legacy”).
The SEC and Big Ten have been trying to wrest control of the CFP for some time, of course. As reported by Yahoo Sports, the Big Ten and SEC threatened to create their own postseason playoff during negotiations last spring if they were not “granted a majority of CFP revenue and full authority over the playoff format.”
According to Yahoo writer Ross Dellenger, “In the end, executives of the 10 FBS leagues and Notre Dame signed a memorandum of understanding handing control over to college football’s two richest conferences.”
According to Yahoo, the SEC and Big Ten “hold sole discretion on the future of the CFP format starting in 2026, the beginning of the CFP’s new six-year TV agreement with ESPN that runs through the 2031 playoff.”
That likely will include the further expansion of the CFP from 12 teams to 14 or 16 teams and the guarantee of qualifying spots in the playoff. Their leverage: If they don’t get their way, they will break off and form their own playoff.
That would be another mistake because it would result in split championships, and championships with asterisks by them are never satisfying. We already did that, long before a playoff was established.
So this is the latest chapter in the long, messed-up history of college football and its eternal pursuit of determining a champion and making a lot of money in the process. The SEC/Big Ten’s reasoning undoubtedly falls back on the oldest debate in college football — difficulty of schedule.
They would argue that they play the most difficult schedule, so they deserve more automatic qualifiers (AQs). Meanwhile, they’ve created a system in which the rich get richer and the poor fall farther behind, and there’s little opportunity for other schools and conferences to raise their game.
The trouble with college football — as noted here many times — is that there is no central government overlooking the greater good of the game. There are only the various factions fighting for themselves and their interests. That’s what the SEC and Big Ten are up to this week.