Big Ten, SEC in discussions over landmark scheduling agreement with focus on revenue, solidifying CFP spots

The Big Ten and SEC are in preliminary discussions about staging a series of nonconference games with each other that would enhance their primacy and financial dominance over the rest of FBS, sources confirmed to CBS Sports. Teams from FBS’ two strongest conferences would play as many as 12 to 16 “challenge” games similar to the nonconference blockbuster matchups in major college basketball, per USA Today, which first reported the discussions. 

For television purposes, media rights holders would probably be interested mostly in the name brands such as Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and LSU, for starters. 

Sources said eyes were opened this season after administrators saw the earning potential of games like Texas-Michigan and Alabama-Wisconsin. Those games were scheduled before the latest round of realignment, but scheduling more of them in the future would raise revenue for the two conferences already far ahead of the rest of FBS in earning power. 

ESPN owns the SEC media rights and would seemingly have the most to make off any such deal. The Big Ten media rights are split between Fox, NBC and CBS.

The talks were said to be “very preliminary” and financial terms have not been discussed according to sources. 

“This has a long way to go,” said a person familiar with the talks, who added there is a “desire” to continue exploration. 

With major college sports about to be hit with the financial stressors of revenue sharing (and possibly collective bargaining) in the future, any way to generate more revenue these days has to be taken seriously. 

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, a former television executive, is among those interested in creating as many meaningful games as possible. Such an agreement would no doubt solidify spots in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. The FBS conferences and CFP have until December 2025 to present a new format and structure to rights holder ESPN for 2026 and beyond. That format could include automatic qualifier spots for multiple conferences. 

The Big Ten and SEC are seemingly open to the idea now that it has become possible in the expanded playoff to lose multiple games and still be selected. Those “challenge” games would enhance schedule strength and not necessarily penalize teams for losing them. 

For example, Texas (before joining the SEC) added Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia and Florida to the nonconference schedule with that thought in mind. 

One school of thought is that the SEC would first have to get to nine conference games to match the Big Ten. The SEC has long been in discussions with ESPN about the worth of a ninth conference game. If that becomes the case, schools like South Carolina (with Clemson) and Florida (with Florida State) could be playing 11 Power Four games per season if you include that one “challenge” game.

Those new nonconference games weren’t termed as huge windfalls, but they would be an increase in value over, say, an existing MAC-Big Ten game. 

The conferences would hit the jackpot when their current media deals expire. Those arranged nonconference games would likely be folded into the deals that expire in 2030 (Big Ten) and 2034 (SEC). They would also cause concern through the rest of FBS about a separation by those two conferences. 

For now, it’s about creating more quality content, especially as the season winds down in November. An idea to expand the playoff even further beginning in 2026 with automatic qualifiers was shot down earlier this year. The SEC and Big Ten would each have gotten four automatic qualifiers in a 14-team field. The Big 12 and ACC would each have two AQs. 

The Big 12 and ACC would probably be against AQs at this point because it limits their ability to get teams in the field. The FBS leagues are expected to take up discussions again on those topics after this season. The SEC and Big Ten met last week to discuss furthering common interests together.