ATHENS — Modern-day college football, with its wide-open transfer policy and NIL influence, has a demand for more money than ever before.

It’s to the extent that, regardless of the various athletic department models, even at the highest revenue producing schools, increased supply is part of the solution.

The SEC’s likely move from eight conference games to nine conference games is Business 101: A matter of increasing the value of the league’s television package, and the higher payouts that would go to each member school as a result of that.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spoke out earlier this week during his SEC Network appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show about the scheduling direction the league appears ready to take after the upcoming season, which appears likely to be the last with an eight-game league schedule.

The issue, Sankey made clear, is how does the SEC go about adding a ninth conference game — which represents a higher degree of schedule difficulty — without sacrificing College Football Playoff resumes?

“One of the issues in the room for our athletics directors is what seemed to matter most, is the number to the right, the number of losses,” Sankey said Monday in an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show.

“And how do we understand what that means for our schedule moving forward? I’m one who said I really think we ought to be trying to move toward a nine-game conference schedule. I think that can be positive for a lot of reasons. You watch the interest around conference games. But not if that causes us to lose opportunities.”

That’s what many felt happened last season, as then CFP Chairman Warde Manuel led a 13-member committee that appeared to weight won-loss record considerably more than other metrics, specifically, strength of schedule.

Sankey noted that became an issue for SEC members, as three-loss teams such as Alabama, South Carolina and Ole Miss were bypassed for a potential at-large spot in favor of a two-loss SMU, which lost in the ACC Championship Game after playing a considerably weaker schedule than the there-loss SEC teams.

The College Football Playoff executive committee announced five new members on Tuesday — including former Georgia player and former UGA athletic director Damon Evans — in addition to new Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades taking over as the new chairman.

The new committee is expected to more closely follow the direction of CFP executive director Rich Clark, who identified strength of schedule as a key metric that would “cross-cut across conferences.”

Sankey had noted on Monday that SEC schools had expressed interest in gaining more clarity in the CFP selection committee rankings.

“They have talked about ideas of evaluation strength of schedule and trying to better understand and how that analysis is made,” Sankey said.

“How can we better understand how the CFP selection committee makes its decisions?”

Indeed, Georgia coach Kirby Smart famously — and correctly — said after the Bulldogs were left out of the then-four team playoff following the 2018 season, that the CFP selection committee’s areas of emphasis changed every year.

Smart pointed out last season that trying to compare statistical metrics last season is more complicated than surface value might indicate.

“I’ve repeatedly said I don’t know what they are looking for, they can’t define that,” Smart said on an SEC teleconference on Nov. 20. “It’s not simple, either, anybody can be on that committee and say this is what we’re looking for, this is our criteria.”

As for the statistics, Smart pointed out that they cannot be considered to have taken place in a vacuum.

“It just seems unjust to me when you evaluate somebody’s got a third-ranked defense, or somebody’s got a fifth-ranked defense — well, don’t you think that third- or fifth -ranked defense is dictated by who they’ve played on offense?” Smart said. “Because, last time I checked, our offense and our defense have played the top offenses and defenses across the country.

“They talk about the eye test and how do you play in the game, well how you play is dictated, number one, where you’re playing, home or away, and number two, who you are playing?”

More conversations about the future and direction of the College Football Playoffs will continue to take place, as new contract will be in place before the 2026 season, possibly included a larger playoff field, guaranteed bids for the SEC and Big Ten and a refined seeding and hosting model.

Sankey acknowledged such conversations have taken place, as it related to the dissolution of the Pac-12 to two members from the time the 12-team playoff format was introduced to the time of its application — for a two-year term — last season.

“I think we learned after conference membership movement, and looking at a system that was designed in 2019, 20 and 21, that the rankings versus seedings, the ability to be in the top four, be in the next four and host, and then the ability to be in the Top 12 and have the chance to be in the College Football Playoffs, those look a little bit different,” Sankey said.

“That’s why I said we really need to look at that ranking versus seeding approach that was introduced the first year.”

There’s a lot on the table for the 2026 season and CFP Playoffs for sure, with it seeming more likely the SEC will have a nine-game schedule in place by then.

The SEC athletic directors, presidents and coaches will surely discuss the schedule, along with other league issues at the SEC Spring Meetings in late May.