Inside the SEC’s high-stakes Destin showdown over CFP expansion, NIL and a possible NCAA breakaway

Joel Klatt discusses the impact of a 24-Team College Football Playoff and what that could mean for potential SEC and Big Ten Matchups.

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – Amid thousands of vacationers roaming the Hilton Sandestin Resort over Memorial Day weekend, some of the most powerful figures in college athletics will head into town for meetings behind closed doors to debate the future of the SEC — and potentially the future of college sports itself.

While families shuffle between the indoor pool and the white-sand beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast, SEC coaches, athletic directors, university presidents and commissioner Greg Sankey will spend the week discussing the growing chaos surrounding NIL, College Football Playoff expansion and whether the conference needs to take matters into its own hands.

Earlier in the week, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti drew a massive line in the sand out in California, much like the ones glistening outside the meeting rooms here in Florida, by maintaining that either the college football playoff expands to 24-teams or the conference will not budge on the 16-team format that the SEC has been lobbying in favor of over the past year.

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It's done, there will be no compromise in the eyes of Big Ten officials, though dialogue between Petitti and Greg Sankey continues on a daily basis.

But, the bigger problem lies in the mess that has been front and center on Capitol Hill over the past four years with potential legislation (SCORE Act) that has once again stalled before making it to the House floor thanks to another last second disaster, which also included the "National Black Caucus" coming out against