9 game sec football schedule starting in 2015

[Paul Jones]

I dont see the SEC going to 9 conference games at all because of money. Having 9 SEC games means seven more losses for teams, and there are already teams barely getting to bowl eligibility. Less bowl teams means less money and prestige for the SEC. Could be wrong but dont see this happening.

[engie]

I dont see the SEC going to 9 conference games at all because of money. Having 9 SEC games means seven more losses for teams, and there are already teams barely getting to bowl eligibility. Less bowl teams means less money and prestige for the SEC. Could be wrong but dont see this happening.

I don't see it happening either. A bunch of people jumping the gun in assumptions on this one based on some secondhand tweets. We already know for sure that Florida and Georgia are voting it down -- as are MSU, OM, Vandy, Kentucky, and Mizzou. They can't pass anything with 7(or fewer) votes.

ESPN does not have the power to force a 9-conference game schedule down our throats -- nor do I see how it would help them, since they essentially lose a half-dozen games of overall inventory. People shouldn't be getting hung up on the fact that "espn owns the SEC network" -- because the SEC retained full rights to ALL the content -- thus why it's actually a full 50-50 partnership. They own the channel -- we own the content. We absolutely did not sell our souls in this deal -- and the reason that the $$ figure hasn't been disclosed is because no one has a dang clue what it will be worth yet. That will depend on who picks it up, to what extent, and how quickly...

I think we keep the 8-game conference schedule and work out scheduling alliances with other conferences to balance the nonconference SOS and add the inventory that ESPN wants. In that way, I could see them strongly suggesting more prime OOC games -- particularly with the ACC, which is also an ESPN-exclusive partner, while the B1G and Big12 are Fox partners, thus necessitating "sharing" profits in series against those schools...