We could be one giant leap closer to the SEC adopting a ninth conference game to its football schedule in the near future.
ESPN is willing to pay anywhere from $50 million to $80 million more to the Southeastern Conference for it to play a ninth league football game, according to The Athletic.
“Willing” is the operative word in this situation, as ESPN has not made a formal offer to the SEC as of yet, and the dollar amount is still a very open question.
Still, with that notable incentive, it is expected the SEC will engage in deliberations about expanding its conference football schedule from eight games to nine, per the report.
That amount would be in addition to the roughly $811 million per year that ESPN pays to the SEC for the right to broadcast the conference’s coveted football games every season.
Consensus opinion in the SEC has been steadily moving towards adopting the ninth game, and even earned an endorsement from commissioner Greg Sankey this offseason.
“One of the issues in the room for our athletics directors is what seemed to matter most, is the number to the right, the number of losses. And how do we understand what that means for our schedule moving forward?” Sankey told the Paul Finebaum Show in March.
“I’m one who said I really think we ought to be trying to move towards a nine-game conference schedule. I think that can be positive for a lot of reasons. You watch the interest around conference games. But not if that causes us to lose opportunities.”
There has been some speculation that the SEC’s decision to add that ninth game comes down to whether the conference can get guaranteed bids in a new College Football Playoff format starting in the 2026 season.
Leaders of the SEC and Big Ten have held private talks about an expanded, 14-team playoff where each league would get four guaranteed places, according to reports.
The SEC has debated adding a ninth conference game to its football schedule for a few years, but stayed at eight amid financial and competitive concerns about playing another league game.
The SEC has played eight conference football games since the 1992 season, although the addition of a ninth game has been gaining traction as a subject inside the league for the last three years.
And with this new financial incentive, they could make it a reality sooner rather than later.
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