SEC, Big Ten Are ‘Flexing Its Muscle’ With CFP Negotiations
The Big Ten and SEC have positioned themselves to become the two biggest entities in college football after stockpiling the biggest brands in the sport over the last few cycles of conference realignment.
The most recent wave, which will officially go into effect in just a few months, will see the sport turned on its head, with Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in addition nearly the entire Pac-12 conference being distributed amongst the Big 12, Big Ten, and ACC.
The SEC and Big Ten have been the primary beneficiaries of realignment. In discussions about the future of the College Football Playoff, they’re ready to use their recently improved leverage to further the gap between them and the rest of the schools at the FBS level.
Recent reports have suggested that a move to a 14-team playoff might be in the cards, and both the SEC and Big Ten could heavily benefit from the new model in several ways. Among the reported benefits would be:
- Three auto-bids for the SEC, Big Ten
- Exclusive rights to first-round byes for each conference’s champion
- Splitting 58% of total CFP revenue in a new revenue-sharing model
For administrators, coaches, players, and fans of the other conferences, that’s a nightmare scenario. However, it might be the only option that leaves the Big 12 and ACC schools with a chance to compete for a legitimate national championship.
The SEC and Big Ten are flexing their muscles, and if they don’t get what they want in the negotiations, they could decide to withdraw from the idea altogether and pursue their own interests.
Whether that’s truly an option is anybody’s guess at this point, but ESPN personality Paul Finebaum is a big fan of how they’re approaching the negotiation process. At the end of the day, the SEC and Big Ten feel they deserve more money, and Finebaum says that’s been the goal from Day 1.
“I think the goal of the Big Ten and the SEC from Day 1 was to go in there and grab more money. That’s the most important thing here is quit giving money to leagues that don’t show up and are representative,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.
“As far as the byes, I was never crazy about that. I think we ought to have a representative tournament, and if you give the Big Ten and SEC automatic byes, it would skewer the view of it. But I’m sure that’s something that was thrown on the table to get everyone else to simply move off trying to go for an equal share. That’s just not the way the world works anymore, and I compliment the SEC and Big Ten for flexing its muscle in that regard.”
College football is entering an unprecedented era in its history, as the Playoff is looking to expand before the first season under its already-expanded format has been played. As hard as it might be to admit for some, Finebaum is right about his take on “equal shares” for everyone.
There’s no world where the ACC is adding the same value to college football that the Big Ten or SEC is right now. When it comes to the bottom line, the same can unfortunately be said about the Big 12.
Thanks to realignment, the league has lost Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Missouri, and Colorado. According to a USA Today study in 2023, that group contains three of the nation’s ten valuable football programs. Now, thanks to the realignment, all 10 of the programs on USA Today’s list are either in the Big Ten or SEC, and there’s not a Big 12 program inside the Top 25.
Most Valuable Athletic Programs (Per USA Today)
| Rank | School | Total Revenue | Conference |
| 1. | Ohio State | $251,615,345 | Big Ten |
| 2. | Texas | $239,290,648 | SEC |
| 3. | Alabama | $214,365,357 | SEC |
| 4. | Michigan | $210,652,287 | Big Ten |
| 5. | Georgia | $203,048,566 | SEC |
| 6. | LSU | $199,309,382 | SEC |
| 7. | Texas A&M | $193,139,619 | SEC |
| 8. | Florida | $190,417,139 | SEC |
| 9. | Penn State | $181,227,448 | Big Ten |
| 10. | Oklahoma | $177,320,217 | SEC |
| 11. | Auburn | $174,568,442 | SEC |
| 12. | Michigan State | $172,799,513 | Big Ten |
| 13. | Indiana | $166,761,471 | Big Ten |
| 14. | Virginia | $161,916,231 | ACC |
| 15. | Florida State | $161,141,884 | ACC |
| 16. | Kentucky | $159,079,024 | SEC |
| 17. | Clemson | $158,283,618 | ACC |
| 18. | Tennessee | $154,566,935 | SEC |
| 19. | Oregon | $153,510,555 | Big Ten |
| 20. | Arkansas | $152,513,755 | SEC |
| 21. | Iowa | $151,483,092 | Big Ten |
| 22. | Wisconsin | $150,100,977 | Big Ten |
| 23. | Louisville | $146,225,965 | ACC |
| 24. | Illinois | $145,735,330 | Big Ten |
| 25. | Washington | $145,184,864 | Big Ten |
The first Big 12 (in 2024) team doesn’t appear until No. 31 (Arizona). As for existing Big 12 schools (excluding OU and Texas), Kansas checks in at No. 35 in total revenue.
Seeing just three teams in the Top 25 not wearing the SEC or Big Ten patch should spell it out pretty clearly: There are two “Power” conferences.
It’s a hard reality to accept, and we don’t have to like it, but it is a reality nonetheless.
Given the current state of college football, the 34 teams in the Big Ten and SEC are very much running the show while the other programs wait to see what happens.
The Big 12 and ACC have two options: Fall in line and concede to the fact that the Big Ten and SEC are going to keep widening the financial gap, or put their collective foot down together and see if the “Power Two” are legitimately willing to break up college football as we know it.
