As Alabama reached the SEC title game in Atlanta in 2025, the discourse didn’t focus on its chances of winning. Instead, all analysts could talk about was its playoff snub if it lost the game. And when Bama was embarrassed by a 7-28 margin, many expected that the Tide would slip out of the CFP Committee’s final top 12. However, when the final rankings were announced, it didn’t drop by a single spot. And yet, apprehensions lingered.

“I think the ship has sailed. It’s run its course,” Bama AD Greg Byrne told USA Today about the relevance of conference championships. Greg Byrne’s comments have now sparked a discourse on the feasibility of conference championship games. With the Big 10 pushing for a 24-team playoff, the days of the championship games seem numbered. But removing them won’t be the most appealing answer.

Ever since the 12-team playoff began in 2024, college football has had an extra 8 games compared to the 4-team playoff era. That ideally meant more revenue, more eyeballs, and more spotlight. ESPN agreed to a six-year, $7.8 billion deal and anticipated a jump in revenue every year. While it benefited from that deal, and this year’s average CFP viewership rose 4% ($16.3 million), it came at conference championships’ expense.

Coaches like Kirby Smart began publicly campaigning against the games. And why wouldn’t he? For coaches operating in a ‘natty or bust’ environment, the risk of losing a player to injury or slipping in the CFP rankings is too big a gamble. In 2024, UGA’s QB1, Carson Beck, suffered a season-ending injury against Texas in the SEC championship game, and the Dawgs were eliminated in the first round with an inexperienced Gunner Stockton. In a college football era where culture has taken a backseat, why should coaches risk their players to go through the extra workload?

Let’s say the NCAA considers keeping the conference championship games with the 12-team playoff. It can be manageable, somewhat like spring or bowl games, carrying only cultural value. But the 12-team format isn’t where the playoffs are locked in right now. The Big 10 is pondering a 24-team expanded playoff and has already pitched the idea of removing the title games. The SEC is on a 16-team framework, and the programs are pressuring for change.

“They’ll give it up,” a person closely involved with CFP told CBS Sports. “The coaches do not want to play it. [Georgia coach Kirby Smart] had already been saying, ‘We shouldn’t be playing this game,’ and then they lost their quarterback. When [the] expands to 14 or 16, it will especially not make sense.”

The coaches aren’t yet satisfied with the calendar and are urging a positive change. The NCAA has proposed shifting the opening week 1 of college football to week 0, thus moving the playoff action in early December. But that isn’t ideal for coaches. Having conference weekend after the regular season clogs up the calendar, and even with two proposed bye weeks in the regular season, conference games still happen in early December as usual. For now, removing the games altogether seems like the only option. But is it?

Conference games’ elimination discourse excludes smaller programs from the mix

Conference champions may seem like a product of a bygone era, and in some way, there really are. Former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer created the SEC title game in 1992, an era when a national championship didn’t exist. It immediately filled a void in determining the real powerhouse in the SEC each year, and gradually, the ratings skyrocketed. Other conferences followed suit.

“I don’t know if it will ever be diminished to the fact that’s always one of the goals, right?” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said about the conference games. “Especially when you’re in the Southeastern Conference or the Big Ten, there’s so much history and tradition to these conferences that it means a ton.”

However, despite the games seemingly being a product of a bygone era, the conference championship is the closest many programs come to achieving glory. Think of schools like Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest; it would take tremendous effort and financial muscle for the teams to become national title contenders. And even if they do so, what’s the guarantee they will sustain the success every year like college football’s bluebloods?

The Duke Blue Devils made it to the conference championship game for the first time since 1989 last year. However, many questioned their place in the championship, given their 5 losses this season. But let’s keep that aside for a moment. The team won the championship and saw glory. The Blue Devils last won the national championship in 1941, and they aren’t going to win any time soon. That was the only ‘Super Bowl’ moment they were going to get! Why take it away?

ESPN won’t be willing to give up its cash cow easily

The NCAA or the conferences won’t make decisions based on sentiment, especially in an environment where only prominent stakeholders are involved. But every stakeholder, program, and conference loves money, and conference games are one of the biggest cash cows. All Power Four conference games combined are worth a whopping $200 million, and that figure reflects only the direct revenue.

2024’s SEC title game was the highest-rated non-playoff game of the season and sixth overall. It boasted 16.6 million viewers, showcasing immense interest. On the other hand, the Big Ten Conference title game drew 10.5 million viewers, making it the 14th highest-rated game of the season. And if that’s not enough, the viewership skyrocketed in the 2025 season.

Last year’s Big 10 title game between Indiana and Ohio State drew 18 million viewers, making it the 7th-highest-watched game of the season. Trailing it at the 8th spot was the SEC championship game, drawing 300,000 more viewers than in 2024. These games show they are still a ‘better’ product, especially since both games surpassed the CFP semifinals (Fiesta Bowl) and quarter finals (Orange Bowl) viewership. Because of that, ESPN won’t give up conference games easily, even with the promise of some added games in an expanded playoff format.

But it’s not just ESPN. The SEC has locked in a deal with Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta through 2031, and other conferences have secured similar agreements. With revenue from tickets, alcohol sales, and concessions flowing in, Doug Roberts, executive vice president of the Stadium, has no indication of any alteration to the SEC’s already established deal. “We wouldn’t want to get into the what-if hypotheticals,” Roberts said to the NY Times.

The Big 10 and the SEC would be the last to give up their championships

The College Football Playoff, as it currently operates, works in tandem with conference championship games. Last year, the five conference champions ranked highest by the CFP selection committee got automatic selection, although they didn’t necessarily get byes. That was the reason why the ACC champions, Duke, with 7 wins, couldn’t make it to the playoffs. Translation: there’s still incentive in playing those conference games, especially if you win.

In the Big 10’s new proposal, the conference has proposed to remove the conference championship games but is ironically looking into a “Championship Saturday.” In it, the Big 10’s top-2 teams would play, along with the no. 6 vs the no. 3 seed vs the no. 4 seed, and the no. 5 seed vs the no. 6 seed. The winners would automatically qualify for the college football playoff. Isn’t that akin to a Big 10 championship game, just with 4 added teams in an expanded playoff scenario?

It’s becoming clearer that conferences won’t lose their championship games easily. The SEC’s conference championship game nets the conference a whopping $50 million, and a similar amount is there for the Big 10. Sure, removing the conference games may lead more people to attend CFP games, since fans don’t make multiple trips to games. However, television eyeballs, along with a CFP format tied to automatic bids from conference title games, are bigger factors in keeping the games for the foreseeable future.

“A lot of paperwork,” Greg Sankey said about problems in determining conference champions without the title games. “Remember, everybody, talking about, hey, we need to determine things on the field. We determine it on the field still, and I think that provides a great moment, a great rallying point. But we shouldn’t just say, well, there’s another game we’re going to walk away.”

Removing the games isn’t as simple as it sounds. Without automatic bids, the committee takes over the rankings, a move that has been controversial every year. Computer models also won’t cut it, given their failure in the BCS era. Sticking to the status quo is also not a feasible option, so college football should decide on a format, just not without the conference championship games. For a sport built on tradition and regional identity, conference games still carry not just a sentimental value but a huge financial upside.