Rep. Brendan Boyle wants the SEC and Big Ten investigated for collusion: They’re ‘rigging the College Football Playoff’

Just one year into the new 12-team College Football Playoff, athletic directors already are pushing for further expansion and hope to bump the number to 16 teams. But U.S. Rep. Brendan F. Boyle, who represents Northeast Philadelphia and other parts of the city, warned earlier this week about what he sees as “collusion” between the sport’s two most powerful conferences.

“Let me state this as clearly as I can: the Big Ten and SEC should be very, very careful about some of the decisions they are about to make,” Boyle, a Democrat, wrote Monday on X. “Because they appear hell-bent on ruining major college football. I think they need congressional hearings into their collusion.”

The Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference hosted a joint meeting in February in New Orleans to explore expanding the playoff field to 14 teams, with four automatic bids each for the two conferences, plus two automatic bids each for the ACC and Big 12 and one for a Group of Five school, allowing for just one at-large bid. Since then, their proposal has expanded to 16 teams, including play-in games for the bottom four seeds. Having a play-in would grant a double bye for the top two teams in the field.

But the attempt by the Big Ten and SEC to award themselves four automatic bids has sparked controversy among college football fans, including Boyle, a Notre Dame alumnus. As an independent, Notre Dame is ineligible for conference automatic bids.

So why is the Philly politician weighing in on sports?

» READ MORE: College Football Playoff shifts to straight seeding model, no automatic byes for top league champs

“I hope that this raises awareness,” Boyle told The Inquirer on Wednesday. “And I think it has, that what the SEC and Big Ten are attempting to do — and they haven’t firmly made the decision they’re going to go down this road — but they should be aware that by going down this road, doing something so grotesquely unfair and rigging the College Football Playoff, that it will have ramifications on the Hill and be so divisive within college athletics that it would represent a real turning point in terms of college athletics.”

Boyle, who as the ranking member of the House Budget Committee spent much of last week arguing against President Donald Trump’s tax bill, is aware potential perceptions when politics and sports intermingle. But he also doesn’t see how they can remain separate given the size and scope of the business of sports — and college athletics’ growing number of employment issues, specifically around name, image, and likeness.

“First, any time any government official opines on sports, you’re always going to have the person who responds, ‘What the hell are you doing? Stay out of it. There’s no role for government. Mind your own business,’” said Boyle, who added that sports are usually his escape from an otherwise difficult job. “… The second thing I would say is, can you name one, just one, multibillion-dollar industry that is not regulated by the government? You can’t, because the answer is zero. This is a multibillion-dollar industry that at the moment is constantly coming to members of Congress asking for us to intervene in NIL and a number of other realms related to employment law.

“So don’t be surprised if after the last four years of these colleges and universities, including the SEC, coming to Congress asking for relief, don’t be surprised if we turn around and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. It looks to me like actually the biggest threat right now to the game is the way you guys are attempting to collude and rig this thing at the beginning of a season rather than just going with how it plays out on the field.’”

Trump initially announced plans to investigate college athletics with a presidential commission led by businessman Corey Campbell, with involvement from former coach Nick Saban. Those plans have since been paused. Saban spoke to Congress on May 12 about the impacts of NIL deals and urged Congress to step in and pass legislation.

In 2024, its first season after Saban’s retirement, Alabama was the subject of controversy. The Crimson Tide were the final team cut from the 12-team playoff field after going 9-3 in Kalen DeBoer’s first season as coach, missing out in favor of SMU, which went on to lose, 38-10, to Penn State in the first round.

Alabama then lost to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl, but the snub angered conference commissioner Greg Sankey and the SEC, who feel they are being punished for playing more challenging schedules, motivating the renewed push for further change in the playoff format.

“The irony is, if you look at the past 20 years, the SEC has probably been the best conference in college football,” Boyle said. “I think most years, in a 16-team format, they would get at least four teams in. Actually, last year they would’ve gotten six teams in to a 16-team field. So just have the confidence to let it play out. Don’t throw your weight around and rig the playoff at the very beginning just because you can and you have that sort of power.”

» READ MORE: EA Sports names WRs Ryan Williams, Jeremiah Smith as College Football 26 cover athletes

Any changes won’t be made in time for 2025, although next season’s playoff will already differ from the 2024 iteration, which granted the top four seeds to the four top-ranked conference champions. Instead, teams will be ranked directly, which provides an opening for more than one Big Ten and SEC team to make the top four and an opening for Notre Dame to earn a bye as an independent.

But Boyle doesn’t see any reason to expand a field that’s already grown from two to four to now 12 teams — and possibly more.

“I loved the 12-team College Football Playoff that they had this year. It provided a way in which every college and FBS could qualify and had a chance to qualify,” Boyle said. “It was incredibly exciting for the fans — the TV ratings are certainly evidence of that. And so I really hope now that we really have a real playoff, they wouldn’t ruin just one year after it finally came into existence after many decades of fans clamoring for it.”