SEC Football: Future Schedule to Be Set in May Must Include 9 Conference Games

One of the primary side effects of conference expansion is heartburn/headache due to scheduling issues.

According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, SEC commissioner Mike Slive hopes to cure that side effect by late May.

That new schedule must include nine conference games.  

If the SEC stays with eight conference games, storied rivalries like Tennessee vs. Alabama and Auburn vs. Georgia will likely disappear. With seven teams now in each division, six conference games plus one permanent cross-division opponent would equal a 12-year cycle through the opposite division.  

That won't cut it.  

One theory being floated out there—particularly by Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity—is scrapping the home-and-home method for non-permanent cross-division rivals and just playing single games against those teams. In Georgia's case, it would still play Auburn every year, and then cycle through the rest of the SEC West one team at a time.

That idea is fantastic, but it won't happen either.

The SEC added Missouri and Texas A&M for the specific purpose of reworking its television contract and making more money. ESPN and CBS have already voiced their displeasure with the lack of compelling games during Weeks 1, 2 and 12; which is why Florida is playing Texas A&M and Missouri is hosting Georgia in Week 2.  

If the SEC wants to get the bigger, better deal, it will go to nine games specifically for the purpose of placating its primary television partners. Coaches may not like it, athletics directors may not like it and players may not like it, but it's not about them. 

It's about money, for better or for worse.