In spite of all of the speculation and excitement in the last 12 days since the B1G Conference announced their intent to add USC and UCLA to their conference, conference realignment is over for now. According to Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South, the SEC prefers to stay at 16 teams.
https://twitter.com/MattHayesCFB/status/1546508012512321536
“We’re positioned at 16 (teams) for a robust future,” an SEC athletic director told SDS. “The need just isn’t there.”
The SEC currently has 14 teams and expands to 16 when Oklahoma and Texas join the conference in 2025. At issue for the SEC right now is there are very few teams that provide the right ‘fit’.
When asked if Notre Dame to the Big Ten would be a threatening move, the SEC source said, “Why? I’ll put our product vs. anyone’s product. So we’re going to just add schools to add schools? There’s no value in that.”
Notre Dame is one of the few schools that is the right fit for the SEC, a point made here before. The Fighting Irish want to test out their market value as an independent when NBC’s contract expires in 2025. Notre Dame’s NBC contract pays them $15 million per year. The ACC’s distribution to Notre Dame paid the Irish $10.8 million in 2019-2020, the last non-Covid year. Notre Dame needs to triple their current football television revenue to equal the $55 million the SEC paid out just last year.
USC and UCLA join the B1G in 2024. Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC in 2025. Notre Dame’s CBS contract expires in 2025. A two year window exists for B1G negotiation with Notre Dame and Notre Dame’s negotiation with all television networks. If the B1G makes a move on the Irish in the next two years, the SEC may respond. For right now, though, all SEC members are happy with the status quo. Conference realignment is over….at least for now.