Greg Sankey updates the status of the SEC Championship game

Dec 28, 2019; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey looks on before the 2019 Peach Bowl college football playoff semifinal game between the LSU Tigers and the Oklahoma Sooners at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey opened the 2026 SEC Media Days by addressing some of the biggest concerns in college football, and he gave an update on the status of the SEC Championship game.

Sankey talked about the 12-team College Football Playoff model and how it factors into the discussion of keeping or getting rid of conference championship games.

“I think the move to 12 (playoff teams) created pressure around championship games, and we’ve talked through the factors that support the pro list, and we’ve talked about some of the con list if you will, the negatives that need to be considered,” Sankey said. “We have some time. We will have a conference championship game the first Saturday in December of 2026. We have contracts and plans in place well beyond that, but we have time for consideration. One of the factors for us is what will happen with that College Football Playoff.”

In 2025, Alabama met Georgia in the SEC Championship game, and despite ranking lower than the Bulldogs in the AP poll and College Football Playoff rankings, the Crimson Tide were the top seed in the SEC. Alabama lost by multiple scores to Georgia, and the concern for the next few hours was what the committee would do with Alabama after picking up a third loss on the season.

With that loss coming in the SEC Championship game, people like Sankey and Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer expressed that a team should not be punished for playing in their conference title game. The committee kept Alabama in the College Football Playoff in the exact same spot, and it perhaps has set a precedent for the next few years of how the committee should view the conference championship game.

Last season, it went in favor of Alabama and the SEC, but the committees are always going to see things differently from year to year as each committee is made up of new members.

The SEC Championship game is set for December of 2026, and it sounds like Sankey is all for keeping the SEC Championship game unless something happens with the College Football Playoff.