SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is throwing a flag on the rush to expand the College Football Playoff, warning that the "tipping point" of meaningful regular-season games could be lost if the bracket grows too big too fast.

Speaking at the Associated Press Sports Editors regional meeting in Birmingham, Sankey made it clear that while expansion is coming, the league needs to carefully consider how many teams is too many before it waters down the excitement that makes college football special.

"There is a tipping point when it comes to meaningful games in November," Sankey said. "At any level of expansion, there will be games that didn't matter in a smaller number that now matter in a bigger number. But there's another side to that coin where the next-to-last weekend of the regular season – that, right now, is critically important – might not matter in the same way."

The clock is ticking. A decision on the 2027 format must be made by December 1, and the debate is heating up. The current 12-team playoff will stick through 2026, but momentum is building for a bigger bracket as early as 2027.

Tennessee is leading the charge for a 24-team model. Athletics director Danny White and head coach Josh Heupel are among the loudest voices pushing for a larger field, joining the Big Ten and the American Football Coaches Association, which has even proposed eliminating conference championship games to make room for an expanded playoff.

This puts Sankey in a tough spot. The SEC previously endorsed a 16-team playoff, but support for that model is fading fast as the 24-team proposal gains traction across the sport.

"If we're honest, that's an unknown," Sankey admitted when asked about the impact on regular-season excitement. "We are trying to inform that through research. There are a lot of ideas out there that have to be supported with analysis and information, not speculation."

The debate will continue at the SEC's athletics directors meeting in mid-May, followed by the league's spring meetings in Destin later this month, where presidents, chancellors, ADs, and head coaches will all have their say. One thing is certain: the future of college football's postseason is about to get a whole lot bigger – but finding the right balance between expansion and preserving what makes the regular season so special remains the ultimate challenge.