GRAPEVINE, Texas – College football commissioners on Wednesday discussed expanding the College Football Playoff field to 14 or 16 teams when the next CFP contract takes effect in 2026. They have about a month to do it.
Detailed talks about changes at the team are on hold as the CFP pressures and takes time to finalize its new television deal with ESPN. The CFP Management Committee is comprised of 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director. Members expected the Big Ten and SEC to put some proposals on the table Wednesday, and by all accounts they did.
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“It was the most productive meeting I’ve had since I started as commissioner and have been fortunate enough to attend these meetings,” said Big Ten Commissioner Tony Pettit. We talked about some format and 14 came up. There was a good discussion about this. After that, there is no list because we have more work to do. I’m happy with the way everyone is coming together.
A 12-team model is set for 2024 and 2025. The Board of Regents, made up of university presidents, approved the move from 6+6 to 5+7 model in light of the Pac-12’s collapse. Five conference champions will receive automatic bids for the next two years, with all four receiving first-round byes. Seven groups occupy large areas.
Now the discussion has shifted entirely to 2026, when there is no contract and decisions do not require unanimity. The management committee met for more than eight hours at DFW Airport on Wednesday, including two hours with Power 5 conferences and Notre Dame’s incoming athletic director Pete Bevacqua.
“In further discussions, yes, looking at the potential to go to other numbers, 14, etc., today was another example,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said.
A 14-team model is assumed to have two first-round byes instead of four, and a 16-team model will have no byes. Both offer plenty of room for the current Power 4 conferences, which have ballooned in size, and especially the Big Ten and SEC, which between them have far more CFP views in their new membership than any other conference.
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The CFP board approved the move to the 5+7 model for 2024
While the commissioners recognized the amount of potential for additional expansion, the Big Ten and Sec. It was other conferences that the pair expected to push, and at least it was Wednesday’s topic.
“I’m not comfortable giving the details because it’s all coming up now,” CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said of the auto-bids. “It needs to be discussed on campuses and in conference boardrooms before we get into the details of things like this.”
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark described the auto-bid discussion as descriptive: “We’re just kind of looking at the numbers,” he said. “He grew up. We have to go through the process.
“That’s all very premature,” Phillips said. “At the end of the day, what’s the right model for (2026) and beyond? We’re going to continue to listen to each other and try to put something together that’s good for college football, good for the conferences and Notre Dame, and good for the health and well-being of college football, long-term.
Refusing to give a months-long deadline, Hancock said the CFP needs to get format changes and that the next TV deal is due within the next month, meaning there will be a small window to deal with these major format changes. It’s also a window for commissioners to have conference basketball tournaments on their plate. Revenue sharing and voting powers for 2026 also remain at the top of discussions.
The athletics As reported last week, ESPN and the College Football Playoff media representatives have agreed to a new television deal worth $7.8 billion over six years from 2026 to 2032 and the terms of an extension, and ESPN’s 12-team model for the next two years. That deal hasn’t been voted on yet, and ESPN is frustrated with how long this has dragged on. CFP officials would not comment on whether an expanded field would increase the value of that deal.
The idea of additional first-round games has not been negotiated with ESPN under the current deal. While ESPN is open to talking about them, the $1.3 billion annual deal is the average budget ESPN has set, so there’s no guarantee that more games won’t mean meaningfully more money or anything.
“We have to do it in a month,” Hancock said. “I don’t know that anyone wants to put artificial deadlines on anything, but we have to be done with it. I think everyone was left with an encouraging feeling today that we will work.
The expansion of the CFP took four years from the creation of the sub-committee to become a fully established reality. Now the commissioners — many of whom weren’t in place when the 12-team model was proposed in summer 2021 — are discussing changing it again before it even kicks off. And they won’t have much time to grab it.
Outgoing American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said, “We discussed everything without reaching any conclusions.” We are trying to make some progress.
(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA TODAY)