The Big Ten commissioner is reiterating the league’s preference for multiple automatic qualifiers in the next version of the College Football Playoff, increasing the likelihood of a showdown with the Southeastern Conference when the format for 2026 is decided.

The SEC Media Days this week highlighted the ongoing rivalry between the SEC and the Big Ten in college football.

Now that the NCAA has taken care of its business, its president wants Congress to deliver.

Conference commissioners lauded a judge’s approval of a $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit settlement as a means for bringing stability and fairness to an out-of-control college athletics industry.

When it comes to the future of the College Football Playoff, there were as many opinions as there were coaches on hand at the Southeastern Conference and Big 12 league meetings in Florida this week.

The Southeastern Conference is ratcheting up penalties on schools whose fans storm the field or rush the court, doing away with an escalating fine system and now charging $500,000 per incident.

On the one hand, what this new version of cash-infused college sports needs are rules that everybody follows.

Nothing less than the future of college sports is being hashed this week at the Southeastern Conference’s annual spring meetings in Florida.

The commissioner of the Southeastern Conference is hearing an increased amount of interest from his league’s leaders about a previously little-discussed idea of expanding the College Football Playoff from 12 to 16 teams.

The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season.

The SEC was the best conference in basketball all season, landing a record 14 teams in the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole stood next to the staging area near midcourt Tuesday night, the confetti strewn around him as the jubilant Colonials players danced, mingled with fans and climbed ladders to cut down the nets.

The Southeastern Conference has fined Ole Miss $500,000 for violating league policy that prohibits fans from storming courts.

South Carolina will be the No. 1 seed in the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament after winning a coin flip.

Yahoo Sports is reporting that a proposal from the nation’s four largest conferences would give them more authority over rule-making, policy decisions and postseason events such as March Madness.

The College Football Playoff won’t swap kickoff dates and times for the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl to give Notre Dame more time between games.

College football’s conference shakeup left concerns about two super conferences dominating the playoff field.

The Southeastern Conference is cracking down on its players falling down and feigning injuries.

The entrance of name, image and likeness deals in college sports has raised questions about what it means to be a tax-exempt charitable organization.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey unofficially opened the league’s first football season as 16-team league in North Texas.

A day after NCAA President Charlie Baker made an aggressive and potentially groundbreaking pitch to allow some schools to pay their athletes, his proposal was met with praise, caution and questions from around college sports.

The Southeastern Conference championship game will remain at Mercedes-Benz Stadium through at least 2031.

The final Red River Rivalry in the Big 12 before it moves to the Southeastern Conference felt like a chance for No. 3 Texas to lay claim to being the best team in the country.

College Football Playoff managers will meet this week at the Big Ten offices outside Chicago.

The conference commissioners who manage the College Football Playoff have met for the first time since a wave of realignment tore apart the Pac-12.

The Southeastern Conference and Commissioner Greg Sankey have agreed to a contract extension through 2028.

The Southeastern Conference will play eight league games in 2024 when it expands to 16 teams with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas, but beyond that the schedule model is to be determined.

A month highlighted by gambling-related firings and potential NCAA infractions in college sports motivated the Southeastern Conference to put extra emphasis on the issue at this week’s spring meetings.

The Southeastern Conference began four days of meetings on the Florida Gulf Coast for a second straight year, debating what to do with its football schedule.

Southeastern Conference leaders will continue debating what to do with their football schedule when they meet in the Florida Panhandle next week.

The NCAA Division I transformation committee has released its final report.

The third in-person meeting of conference commissioners who manage the College Football Playoff since August ended without a resolution on expansion, but not without optimism.

The athletic directors who lead the schools that play major college football want the sport to continue be governed by the NCAA.

The Southeastern Conference is a leading player in dramatic changes to the national football landscape.

College sports leaders visited Capitol Hill, asking lawmakers to consider rules to govern name, image and likeness money for college athletes.

The College Football Playoff is set to stick with a four-team format through the 2025 season.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart told a near-capacity crowd at Sanford Stadium the Bulldogs don’t plan to wait another 41 years for their next national championship.

College Football Playoff expansion talks remain stalled and the possibility of implementing a new format by the 2024 season dimmed after three days of meetings failed to produce an agreement.

The latest meeting on expanding the College Football Playoff has wrapped up in Dallas without any announcement.

The Southeastern Conference has extended the contract of Commissioner Greg Sankey, whose league is set to grab even more prominence and wealth with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas.

The commissioners of the Pac-12 and Big 12 are discussing how the two conferences might benefit from working together or maybe even merging.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says losing Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC could slice the value of the league's next television deal by 50 percent.

After the boards of regents for the universities of Texas and Oklahoma voted Friday to accept invitations to the Southeastern Conference, the league announced the Big 12 rivals would start competing in the SEC in the fall of 2025.

The news comes after the SEC voted to invite UT and the University of Oklahoma to join its 14-member league during a meeting with the league members’ presidents and chancellors Thursday afternoon.

Southeastern Conference university presidents voted to invite Texas and Oklahoma to join the league and create a 16-team powerhouse on the field and at the bank.

Texas and Oklahoma have made a request to join the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.

College football coaches around the country are spending much of the offseason urging their players to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey is echoing a call for potential changes in how college athletics are governed.

A new AP survey of athletic directors and conversations with ADs and conference commissioners during March Madness show concern about what would happen to women's college sports under proposals that would put more money in the pockets of some athletes.

The deal makes ESPN the exclusive media rights holder of SEC football and men's basketball, and will end the conference's relationship with CBS after three decades. “So that’s a point of consistency.”The SEC football championship game will also air on ABC. The SEC and ESPN are already in the midst of a 20-year deal that includes a partnership on the SEC Network. For the first time, SEC games will be available to be slotted into ABC's Saturday Night prime-time slot, too. "So Saturday night, prime time on ABC is the highest profile window, the biggest stage in terms of college football.

Among the three SEC games still on for this Saturday, Arkansas will visit No. Orgeron said he expects most of his players in quarantine due to contact tracing back next week. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said his team only had two positive cases as of Wednesday afternoon, but contact tracing had taken a toll. “Candidly, the numbers around contact tracing have emerged as one of our biggest challenges to playing. “The contact tracing has the potential to magnify even one positive test,” Sankey said.

A Sept. 30 memo after the opening weekend of the SEC season included a reminder to coaches to be mindful of masking up and following other sideline protocols. According to the latest memo, going forward SEC schools will be “assessed a $100,000 reduction in Conference revenue” for failure to adhere to requirements. Repeat offenders will face an increase in lost revenue by $100,000 per offense and even suspensions, the memo said. The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, earlier this week issued a similarly stern warning to follow protocols as the league grapples with positive cases. Georgia coach Kirby Smart acknowledged this week he had been talked to by the commissioner and others about keeping his mask on.

Still, Smarts Bulldogs may lean on their experienced defense in the pandemic-delayed season. Georgia, which is ranked fourth in the country, denied the allegations and said it would share its full response to Reese’s waiver application if he is granted permission. Reese released a statement Tuesday night on Twitter expressing frustration that his waiver had yet to be granted. Reese said he decided to transfer because his 1 1/2 years at Georgia “took a devastating mental toll on me. Another Georgia transfer, offensive lineman Cade Mays, is still awaiting a decision on whether he can play right away for Tennessee.

___Southeastern Conference teams can elect to cancel or reschedule games if they either don’t have 53 scholarship players available or can’t meet some position minimums. They can opt out if they don’t meet certain position minimums for available scholarship players, including seven offensive linemen, with one center, one quarterback and four defensive linemen. A school could opt to play with fewer players or position players available. The Irish government this week said clubs can let 200 fans attend matches in stadiums with capacities of more than 5,000. ___Indianapolis Motor Speedway will open to fans for the first time in 2020 for the IndyCar doubleheader Oct. 3-4.

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)President Donald Trump joined a U.S. senator and a number of coaches Monday in the push to save the college football season from a pandemic-forced shutdown. There was speculation that two of the five most powerful conferences the Big Ten and the Pac-12 might call off their seasons. The Virginia school canceled football and other fall sports less than a week after Conference USA set out a plan to play a football season. There are no guarantees that college football will be completely safe thats absolutely true; its always true, he wrote. Please dont cancel college football.___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

HOUSTON The Southeastern Conference announced its 2020 football season will begin on Sept. 26, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey announced Thursday. The season will be comprised of a 10-game conference-only schedule with the SEC Football Championship Game played on Dec. 19 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The schedule will include one mid-season open date for each school and an open date on Dec. 12 for all schools. The SEC will continue to monitor developments related to COVID-19. This new schedule supports the safety measures that are being taken by each of our institutions to ensure the health of our campus communities.To view the complete press release from the SEC, visit here.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey told a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that there needs to be a uniform federal law to regulate the compensation of college athletes instead of a series of state-level versions with differing requirements. Sankey was part of a panel discussing the potential impact of allowing athletes to profit from the use of their name, image or likeness (NIL). It would be difficult and confusing, Sankey said when asked about managing various state laws among the leagues 14 member schools. Knowing the competition within my 11 states, I can foresee quickly the other 10 one-upping each other. Former Miami and NFL player Eric Winston also testified with University of Baltimore law professor Dionne Koller.

FILE - In this March 11, 2020, file photo, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey speaks at a press conference in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)The Power Five conference commissioners are asking Congress to move forward with federal legislation regarding compensation for college athletes. The commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference sent a letter dated May 23 to congressional leaders. Some lawmakers are skeptical of the NCAA's desire to place what it calls guardrails on a compensation model. So, time is of the essence.___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and https://appodcasts.com/category/ap-top-25-college-football/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/APTop25CollegeFootballPoll and https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25