Alabama athletic director calls for end to SEC Championship Game
FILE – Alabama running back Dre Washington (20) runs against Georgia during the first half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WAKA) – Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne is calling for an end to the Southeastern Conference championship football game, saying it’s run its course, especially with an expanded playoff likely in the future.
Alabama lost to Georgia 28-7 in the SEC title game in 2025, leaving the team with a 10-3 record. But even with the loss, the college football selection committee considered Alabama’s regular-season success and included the Crimson Tide in the playoff.
The SEC Championship Game has been held each football season since 1992.
FILE – Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne speaks before new Alabama football head coach Kalen DeBoer gives his introductory speech at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
“It’s a great event,” Byrne said. “I don’t like the idea of it going away, but I think it’s reality with an expanded playoff.”
Expansion is likely coming, but the College Football Playoff will stay at 12 teams for the upcoming season.
Byrne’s opinion isn’t necessarily an unpopular one. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte suggested moving the playoffs up to the week of conference championship games. Lane Kiffin called the game “a pretty big risk” in 2024 while saying that coaches didn’t want to play in it.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who has led his team to an SEC title game victory in three of the past four seasons, said he can see both sides of the argument.
“I’d want to know the parameters of it before we did anything,” Smart said Thursday in an interview with On3. “Where we are right now with 12 teams, I don’t necessarily agree that it needs to quit being played. But if it gets to 16 or 24 and we’ve got to move the end of the season up and we’ve got to get everything done by the second week of January, then I’d say it probably has to go.”
Smart went on to say that the most important thing is that something is gained from the removal of the game, whether that’s an expedited timeline or an expanded playoff.
But regardless of its future, being a four-time SEC champion is one of his proudest accomplishments.
“I will never apologize for winning an SEC title,” Smart said. “I think it’s the hardest thing to do in sports, winning the dang SEC title in almost any sport, because our conference is so hard.”
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