SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey 'Absolutely' Wants Change to CFP Bracket Format for 2025

Amid the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is ready to see a change to the format.

Per The Athletic's Seth Emerson, Sankey said he is "absolutely" interested in changing the current format for the 2025 season.

The 12-team Playoff in its current form gives automatic bids to Power 4 conference champions and to the highest-ranked Group of Five team, which was Boise State this season. Additionally, the four highest-ranked conference champions receive first-round byes. That granted Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State a free trip to the quarterfinals this year.

Oregon, Boise State and Arizona all lost their respective quarterfinal matchups.

Sankey argued that the current format was built for a college football landscape that existed before conference realignment when the Pac-12 was still considered a Power 5 conference.

"Remember when the format was introduced we had what was called the Power 5 and the Group of 5," Sankey said. "There is not a Power 5. We had looked at history, you never meant pulling seeds from outside the (top) 10 really into the top four in this format. And that's now happened. Those are learning experiences, and that informs adaptation. And we've got a responsibility to have what I would consider is a competitive and fair format."

According to Emerson, Sankey was interested in the potential of keeping the byes for conference champions but re-seeding after the first round. He was "lukewarm" about the prospect of playing quarterfinal games on the team's campuses rather than at bowl sites.

The College Football Playoff format has no set format for 2026 and beyond, but it is set to keep its current format for the 2025 season. That can change if there is unanimous agreement among the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and Notre Dame.

"I've not had a lot of conversations yet about people's interest in adapting. I would hope there is interest," Sankey said. "But then in '26 we've got another opportunity."

Sankey said that the 12-team Playoff "has worked" but "we're gonna learn and then adjust."