New Scheduling Format Approved for Certain SEC Sports

The SEC Presidents and Chancellors have agreed on a future scheduling format for six different SEC sports. The sports involved include men’s basketball, women’s basketball, soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and softball. The format will begin in the 2025-26 athletic year.

Men’s Basketball

For men’s basketball, each team will play a total of 18 conference games in the regular season. Of these 18 games, teams will play two permanent opponents home and away and one rotating opponent home and away. The remaining 12 teams will be played in single contests home or away. In the SEC Tournament, the top four seeds will continue to have a bye in the first two rounds. It will be single-elimination for all 16 teams just like the current format, but with two additional games.

Women’s Basketball

For women’s basketball, each team will play one rotating opponent home and away. The other 14 games will be single contests home and away, resulting in 16 conference games. In the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament, it will be single-elimination for all 16 teams, consistent with the current format but with two additional games. Just like the men’s tournament, the top four seeded teams will have a bye for rounds one and two.

Soccer

Soccer teams in the SEC will continue to play in a two-division format. Teams will play seven divisional opponents every season, along with three cross-divisional opponents on a rotating basis. This will result in 10 conference games. In the SEC Tournament, 12 teams will play in a single-elimination tournament. The top four seeds will have a first-round bye.

Tennis

Men’s and Women’s tennis will run on the same schedule format. For their regular season, teams will compete in a single round-robin against all other teams in the conference. This is consistent with the current format. For the Men’s and Women’s Tennis SEC Championships, every team will play in a single-elimination tournament. The top four seeded teams will get a bye for the first two rounds of the tournament.

Softball

Every team will play eight different opponents in a three-game series during the regular season. This will result in 24 conference games for each team. During the SEC Tournament, all teams will compete in a single-elimination format. This is consistent with the current format, but with two additional games

Other Sports

The regular season and championship format for other SEC sports will continue to be discussed. Although no official information on other sports has been released yet, it will likely be announced at a later date.