Greg Sankey Says 'There Is No Rift' Between Himself And Tony Petitti. Ok, But It's Time To Make A CFP Decision

ATLANTA - SEC commissioner Greg Sankey isn't lying when he says there is no rift between himself and Big Ten commissioner Tony Peitti. But, that doesn't mean both conferences aren’t going to stand their ground when it comes to college football playoff expansion. 

Heading into this week's SEC Media Days, there was a feeling between athletic directors and presidents that there could be a bridge year of keeping an eight-game conference schedule for 2026, with deadlines quickly approaching for the college football playoff, and future SEC formats. 

While the Big Ten has made it abundantly clear that they feel as though the SEC should be playing nine conference games per season, it doesn't sound like Greg Sankey is too worried about the outside perception at this moment, even if that means they have to push the narrative on their strength of schedule a bit harder than usual. 

In a dream world, the SEC would just move to a nine-game schedule starting in 2026, which would be the best thing for the fans who are paying a good amount of money for season tickets that usually include four non-conference games, with three of them usually coming against lower-level opponents. 

Right now, there is a fair argument to be made that some of the SEC teams are not putting together an out-of-conference schedule that is up to par when it comes to the prices being paid by the fans to attend these home games. 

"How many teams do you want in the playoffs? If someone wants to make that contingent on us playing nine games, ok, that’s their decision," Greg Sankey told Paul Finebaum on Thursday. "Remember, conferences expanded to a different number of games when their TV contracts were up. Good for them, we didn’t dictate that."

But, it's not as if moving to nine games is going to magically change this outlook, given the contracts that are already signed for most of these games in the future. The outcome, if they were to switch conference formats, would be to pay off the teams that they are currently contractually obligated to play, which is in the range of $500,000 to $1.5 million, on average. 

There's No ‘Rift’ Between The SEC And Big Ten? Somebody Has To Make A Move

This brings us back to the conversation that has been ongoing since the SEC and Big Ten were given a majority vote on future CFP formats. What is it going to take for a resolution to be reached? 

It's going to come down to Sankey and Tony Petitti coming to some sort of agreement that will not have them both looking like warlords running the college football world, though that's already the perception from fans of the sport. 

"Our presidents said there’s a lot going on. Let’s make sure we’re working together. So, we’re not drawing lines in the sand…Our group said let’s go figure out the selection process," Sankey mentioned about the CFP process. "We could have five or six, the Big Ten could have five or six a number of years. Resolving that down to four isn’t the priority for us. 

"We’re interested in the AQ model, and I’ve said this to Jim Phillips, Brett Yormark, Tony Petitti. We’re interested in that model, we’re not committed to that model, though. We think there’s something else to be explored. The more clarity we have around the CFP, the more clarity we have on our scheduling decisions"

While this ongoing talk has become unbearable at times for fans, with this being one of the hottest topics in college athletics outside the House settlement, it does feel as though a resolution is coming. And while there will be plenty of conversations had next week in Las Vegas during Big Ten media days, Greg Sankey made it clear on Thursday that there isn’t a problem between himself and Tony Petitti, they just have differing opinions on the future.

"There is no rift between the SEC and Big Ten commissioners. We have different views. That’s OK. We talked this morning."

As they try to sort out what their best move is for the conferences they represent, this conversation is only going to ramp up as others take shots at them both for the ongoing drama with the season set to start in just over a month.