Whereas 1,5‐dimethylsemibullvalene (1b) equilibrates with 1,5‐dimethylcyclooctatetraene (2b), the semibullvalene‐2,6‐dicarbonitriles 13 rearrange irreversibly to afford mixtures of the isomeric cyclooctatetraene‐1,5‐dicarbonitriles 14 and 15. Arrhenius and Eyring parameters of these thermal isomerisation reactions have been determined for the gas phase (1b → 2b) and [D6]benzene solutions (1b → 2b, 13 → 14 + 15). Furthermore, the activation parameters of the known rearrangement of octamethylcyclooctatetraene (3) to octamethylsemibullvalene (4) have been determined. – The data for these compounds, together with those for related compounds previously reported in the literature, show that substituents not only influence the relative stabilities of the semibullvalene and cyclooctatetraene systems but also the height of the energy barrier for their interconversion. Those substituents that lower the barrier toward the degenerate Cope rearrangement of semibullvalenes simultaneously accelerate their rearrangement to cyclooctatetraenes thus limiting the thermal stability of the former.