Editing Southeastern Conference (section)

===1990 expansion===
{{Further|Southwest Conference}}

In 1990, the SEC expanded from ten to twelve member universities with the addition of the [[Arkansas Razorbacks]] and the [[South Carolina Gamecocks]]. The two new members began SEC competition with the 1991–1992 basketball season.

At the same time, the SEC organized competition for some sports into two divisions. The Western Division comprised six of the seven member schools in the [[Central Time Zone]], while the Eastern Division comprised the five member schools in the [[Eastern Time Zone]] plus Vanderbilt, which is in the Central Time Zone but was placed in the Eastern Division to preserve its rivalry with Tennessee. Initially, the divisional format was used in football, baseball, and men's basketball. The divisional format was dropped for men's basketball following the 2011–2012 season.

Following expansion, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to sponsor an annual [[SEC Championship Game|football championship game]] that did not count against NCAA limits on regular-season contests, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions.<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://www.secsports.com/index.php?change_well_id=9993&s |title=About the Southeastern Conference |publisher=Secsports.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317103552/http://www.secsports.com/index.php?change_well_id=9993&s |archive-date=March 17, 2009 }}</ref> The [[1992 SEC Championship Game|1992]] and [[1993 SEC Championship Game|1993]] championship games were held at [[Legion Field]] in Birmingham, and all championship games from [[1994 SEC Championship Game|1994]] onward have been held in [[Atlanta]]—first at the [[Georgia Dome]] until its closure and demolition after the 2016 season, and since 2017 at [[Mercedes-Benz Stadium]].<ref name="about"/>