It’s time for the SEC to implement relegation in football and basketball.

Two tiers of 8 teams.

In football tier 1 has a 7 game schedule, with the top two facing each other in the championship game. Each of the tier 1 programs will have one exhibition game against a tier 2 school that doesn’t count towards the tier 1 rankings to determine the champion.

Tier 2 will have a similar setup.

The winner of the tier 2 championship gets promoted to tier 1 the following seasons. The worst tier 1 team gets demoted to tier 2.

In basketball each tier will have home/away games with teams within that tier and fill out their schedule with a home/away with a tier 2 school.

Each tier will have an 8 team tournament. If seed #8 successfully wins the tournament, they avoid relegation. If they don’t the winner of the tier 2 tournament gets promoted the following season.

I believe this will promote the health of football/basketball programs like Oklahoma and Arkansas giving them an easier path to improve their win totals and build up some feelings of success within the program and fan base.