Southeastern Conference approves future scheduling formats for seven sports

The presidents and chancellors of the Southeastern Conference approved future regular season schedules and post-season championship formats for seven SEC sports during a meeting in Nashville last week. The future formats were approved in preparation for the addition of the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns to the conference beginning with the 2024-25 athletic year.

Regular season schedule formats were approved for baseball, gymnastics, and men’s and women’s swimming and diving while championship formats were approved for gymnastics, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, and the return of the SEC Volleyball Tournament — which has not been held since the 2005 season.

Take a look below at the seven sports — including a pair with both men’s and women’s teams — that had schedules and championship formats approved, while regular-season formats in football and volleyball and the post-season tournament format in baseball are still yet to be determined.

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• Regular season: Each season a team will play a three-game series against two permanent opponents and eight rotating opponents, for a total of 30 conference games. Standings will be kept in a single-division format.

• SEC Baseball Tournament: Format to be determined.

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• Regular season: Each school sponsoring a gymnastics team will meet each other member institution at least once a year on an alternating home and away basis, consistent with the current process.  An additional week will be required to accommodate nine teams.

• SEC Gymnastics Championships: The championship will move from a one-day event to a two-day format. The semifinals will consist of two sessions of four teams each.  The top seed will receive a bye to the championship.  The top seed plus the two session winners in the semifinals and the team with the next highest score in the semifinals will advance to a four-team championship.

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• Regular season: The Conference Office will schedule two dual meets per program and each institution is responsible for establishing the dates and times of the meets, consistent with the current process.

• SEC Swimming & Diving Championships:  Same as current format with updated facility requirements.

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• Regular season: Each school sponsoring an indoor track and field team will schedule…