SBJ College: Greg Sankey on CFP flux -- it ‘doesn’t have to rewrite the story all the time’

Checking in from Atlanta and SEC Media Days this evening.

Talkin’ season is well underway after the Big 12 wrapped last week in Dallas and the SEC’s annual media circus is off to another rip-roaring start.

I’ll concede there’s not a ton that comes out of media days that’s wildly revelatory or important, but it does mark the unofficial countdown (kickoff?) to college football season.

Thirty-nine days and counting, for those of you keeping track at home.

Greg Sankey kicked back in a blue leather chair in the underbelly of the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta on Tuesday, a stern look gracing his face.

Sankey has his share of responsibilities these days. Such is life for the man atop one of America’s most significant college sports conferences.

Of late, that’s been headlined by the “will they or won’t they expand” conversation around the College Football Playoff. But as those discussions continue, there’s a broader question of whether persistent tinkering with the field has an ill-effect on the perception of the sport and its postseason.

Sankey doesn’t think so.

“Depends if your view is consistent with the notion that any publicity is good publicity,” he told SBJ, tongue-in-cheek. “My personal view is the move to 12 was appropriate. The timing was really on point. I think 12, as envisioned, worked well.

“... Whether it goes to 14 or 16, that conversation became public pretty quickly, without the rationale. But for any set of issues, you need to make a decision, put the book on the shelf and refer to it a bit when you need to, but not rewrite the story all the time.”

CFP format discussions have dominated headlines for much of the last two years. There are essentially three options on the table:

• A Big Ten-backed 4-4-2-2-1-1 format that would see the Big Ten and SEC receive four automatic bids, two for the Big 12 and ACC, one for the highest-ranked Group of Five champ and one at-large/Notre Dame.
• A 5+11 format that would see the five highest-ranked conference champions be joined by 11 at-large bids.
• Do nothing and remain in the 12-team format.

Sankey has been a vocal proponent of a non-automatic qualifier-centric system, while Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti continues to dig in on one that would guarantee his conference a certain number of spots.

What that impasse largely means is that until the two feuding families that control the future format of the CFP agree, there may be no decision to be made. It also, more than likely, means -- if things remain as they are -- another year of prognosticating about what the format might be moving forward.

“One of the points of encouragement from the BCS era is the BCS formula went through almost annual updates, and that spoke to credibility,” Sankey said. “I don’t think anybody’s questioning the credibility of the national champion last year at 12 [teams]. I don’t think anybody will question the credibility of the national championship this year when we go to seedings being consistent with the rankings.

“I wouldn’t overstate that there’s some negative impact on credibility. The expectation is we continue to work to present the best possible championship model.”

Sankey’s sentiment has merit. The BCS, as noted, spent each year playing with the formula and refining its selection process. The CFP has done the same.

The expansion from a national title game to the four-team era and now to 12 has been an overwhelming success -- just look at the TV numbers for proof.

But are fans ready for another offseason of speculation? We may just find out.

The news dropped last week like an unlit firework left over from the Fourth of July -- after 27 years, Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione would retire at the end of the next year.

“I love being able to serve the University of Oklahoma in so many ways,” Castiglione said from the dais last week. “... However, from time to time, one does take a moment to ponder one’s path, one’s future. It’s a decision-making kind of rubric: When is the right time? When is the right time to pass the baton? When is the best time to make an announcement like this? Not sure it’s ever perfect or predictable, but they always say, you’ll know.”

That Castiglione’s career is coming to an end isn’t a surprise. He’s 66, has spent nearly three decades guiding the athletic department in Norman and is one of the most well-respected and well-liked people in the business. Considering everything happening in college sports these days, stepping away into retirement doesn’t sound so bad.

More broadly, Castiglione’s retirement represents another bullet point in the ongoing changing of the guard in AD roles across the country.

North Carolina announced longtime AD Bubba Cunningham would step down at the end of next year. Legendary Ohio State AD Gene Smith has only been out of his job for around a year. Notre Dame’s Jack Swarbrick, too, isn’t long gone from his post in South Bend.

To be fair, we’ve seen these shifts plenty in other facets of college sports.

Coaches were the first movers on this. Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski are off enjoying retirement, as are Nick Saban, Mack Brown and Frank Beamer.

But as pressures mount on ADs to find as much revenue as possible thanks to the new realities of college sports, hot seat timelines are speeding up, and plenty who’ve made lengthy careers are heading for the exit.

This isn’t to say they’re being chased out. Far from it in the case of someone like Castiglione or Cunningham.

Still, perhaps Bob Dylan was on to something -- the times, they are a changin’. It sure feels like it.

College football is one of those sports becoming a 365-day-a-year venture. Last month, Bowl Season rolled out the slate of games starting Dec. 13. A glance at that schedule showed a few that lack title sponsors -- including some notable departures of longtime partners.

The games without a title sponsor include:

• Music City Bowl
• New Orleans Bowl
• Myrtle Beach Bowl
• Birmingham Bowl
• Boca Raton Bowl

ESPN Events runs the final three on this list, and discussions around title sponsorship are ongoing, a source told SBJ.

The New Orleans Bowl presents a noteworthy opening, given R+L Carriers had served as its title sponsor for 17 years. Billy Ferrante, executive director of the New Orleans Bowl, told SBJ the game had largely operated on three- to five-year contracts over the last two decades and would likely prefer to do so again instead of a one-year stopgap.

“It’s got to be the right fit,” Ferrante said. “A title sponsor for one game may not be a fit at all for another city. Like I said, it’s finding that right fit.”

The Music City Bowl, meanwhile, is the highest profile of the bunch that remains without a title sponsor. The game wrapped up an agreement with TransPerfect that began in 2020 and ended this fall, but it has yet to find a new sponsor.

Scott Ramsey, president of the Nashville Sports Council, confirmed to SBJ the hunt for a new title sponsor remains ongoing.

To be clear, it’s common for bowl games to enter the fall sans a title sponsor. R+L Carriers, for example, put its initial deal with the New Orleans Bowl together in late fall of 2006.

Still, time is of the essence.

• In the fifth episode of SBJ’s Inside the Industry, I join Publisher and Executive Editor Abe Madkour and Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade to examine the college sports landscape.
• Oklahoma is taking a different approach to its NIL efforts, as the 1Oklahoma collective is consolidating its operations and moving under the banner of Sooner Sports Properties -- the school’s local Learfield multimedia rights affiliate.
• Clemson unveiled a multiyear sponsorship with Novant Health that will include a jersey patch on the jersey of its famed Tiger mascot.
• Learfield is re-upping with another Big Ten client, as the company executed a multiyear extension with Illinois.
• Fresno State and NIL platform The LinkU agreed to a three-year partnership around athlete revenue sharing.
• Sinclair is expanding its sports podcasting business with the launch of local college football programming around Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama and Texas (Michigan will join the stable of programs later this summer), reports my SBJ colleague Austin Karp.
• Washington University in St. Louis will offer a master’s degree in the business of sports beginning in the fall 2026, building on the popular undergraduate minor that its business school has offered for the past decade, writes my SBJ colleague Bill King.
• Georgia Tech Facilities is seeking a construction manager at-risk and architecture firm for the donor-funded $70 million Bobby Dodd Stadium renovation that the Georgia Board of Regents approved in May, notes my SBJ colleague Bret McCormick.