Much to discuss at this week's SEC spring meetings
The overriding topic of conversation at this week’s annual SEC spring meetings at Miramar Beach just outside of Destin will be the 2024 football schedule.
Will a vote finally occur? That’s the real question.
With Texas and Oklahoma set to join the league in 2024, the SEC is trying to decide whether to go to an eight-game schedule or a nine-game schedule.
Recently, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told reporters that he “hoped” to have a vote by the end of the meetings, which run through Friday. League presidents and athletic directors debated the subject last year, too, but no vote occurred.
A year later, time is obviously running out.
To review, if the SEC goes to an eight-game schedule, all 16 teams would have one permanent rival, with seven rotating opponents. With nine games, the 16 teams will have three permanent rivals, plus six rotating opponents.
Under both models, teams will play every other school at least once every two years.
Divisions will be history. When the new schedules are eventually announced, divisions will end as all 16 teams will play in one undivided conference.
During last week’s Georgia athletic board meeting, UGA president Jere Morehead was asked if he was ready for the schedule talk.
“I am ready for it to be done,” Morehead said. “We’ve talked about it and talked about it. I’m not sure it will be completed. We’ll see. There’s just a lot of dynamics still playing around on that issue.”
For example:
“I may be saying more than Commissioner Sankey would want me to say, but obviously if you go to a nine-game schedule, you have to be compensated for going to a nine-game schedule,” Morehead said. “There’s still some dynamics that have to play out with our media partners.”
There’s also still plenty to be discussed between the 14 schools that would vote on the changes.
After originally stating a preference for a nine-game conference slate, Alabama head coach Nick Saban told Sports Illustrated that his school favors sticking with an eight-game conference schedule. The reason? Saban is not crazy about the Crimson Tide’s three permanent rivals being LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn. South Carolina and Kentucky are also on record saying they prefer to keep the eight-game conference slate.
Schools publicly favoring a new nine-game format include Florida, LSU, and Texas A&M.
Georgia? Bulldog officials continue to keep their preference mum.
“As it relates to the schedule, we’re not going to comment publicly on that right now. With respect to the SEC. We have meetings next week and you’ll find out more about that when that’s over,” athletic director Josh Brooks said last week. “We keep the SEC first and we’ve got internal meetings we’ve got to have, and us being public about that doesn’t help those meetings we’re about to have.”
One drawback about an eight-game schedule: Georgia's longtime series with Auburn would likely come to an end.
Other topics certainly to be discussed include NIL, the transfer portal, and how to figure out what to do about fans storming the fields and courts around the SEC after games.
Hefty fines have done little to keep huge masses of people from swarming fields after games, this after Sankey put together a committee last year in an attempt to address the situation.
Last month, Sports Illustrated reported that one option being considered would have such a situation result in the loss of a future home game. Drastic? Yes. But as the old saying goes, drastic times sometimes call for drastic measures.
Kirby Smart and basketball coaches Mike White and Katie Abrahamson-Henderson will attend the event.
UGASports will also be there to bring you complete coverage.
