The numbers 12, 16 and 24 are all divisible by four.
They’re also all expected to be at the forefront of discussions at the Southeastern Conference Spring Meetings.
The annual three-day event in Sandestin, Fla., provides an opportunity for the conference’s coaches and athletic directors to discuss and debate the principal issues in college athletics.
The hottest of the hot topic items figures to be the possible expansion of the 12-team College Football Playoff field.
The SEC favors expanding to 16 teams for the 2027 playoff. The Big Ten wants 24.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey figures to reassert his support for expansion to a 16-team field.
“That (16-team) focus hasn’t changed,” Sankey told reporters in Birmingham two weeks ago. “We’re open to the conversation, but there are a lot of ideas out there that have to be supported with analysis and information, not speculation.”
Meanwhile, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti indicated last week at the Big Ten spring meetings in California that he had no interest in a 16-team field.
“We’ve had zero conversation about 16,” he said. “Plan B is what we have now (12 teams). We would stay with what we have now.”
The two sides seem to disagree on the lucratively of either plan.
There are also concerns about how expansion will affect when the season starts, individual teams’ scheduling of non-conference opponents and the future of conference championship games.
Surely, other topics in other sports will also be addressed. The economics of college athletics in the NIL era are always a topic of discussion. Also, the trend of signing basketball players from professional teams figures to be subject to debate.
Still, the topic of CFP expansion and all that goes with it figures to be the No. 1 point of interest.
