College Football Playoff Expansion: Key Insights on Future Changes
The landscape of college football is about to change in a big way. There’s growing momentum for a 16-team College Football Playoff (CFP) format, possibly rolling out as soon as 2026.
But here’s the catch: everything hinges on a compromise between Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. Even with most people on board, if these two can’t agree, we might be stuck at 12 teams for another year.
CFP leaders—including all 10 FBS commissioners, Notre Dame’s athletic director Pete Bevacqua, and the 11 presidents and chancellors on the CFP board—are meeting in Miami soon. They’re set to hash out the future of college football’s postseason, and honestly, it’s anyone’s guess how it’ll shake out.
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Current Discussions and Proposals
The meeting in Miami is coming up on January 18, just before the national championship game. It’s shaping up to be pretty pivotal.
Two main playoff models are being tossed around: a 16-team setup with five conference champs and 11 at-large teams, and a much bigger 24-team format. The real decision-makers here are Petitti and Sankey—they’ve got a lot of sway over where things go next.
16-Team Format
The 16-team idea is getting a lot of love, especially from Sankey. That version would include:
- Five conference champions
- 11 at-large teams
It’s meant to strike a balance: give conference champs their due, but let in some top-tier teams that didn’t win it all. Still, the Big Ten wants to push things even further down the line, and that’s complicating the talks.
24-Team Format
The Big Ten is pushing for a promise to expand to 24 teams after a couple of seasons with 16. This would mean:
- No more conference championship games
- Play-in games added
- More at-large bids
Some CFP leaders are at least open to a 24-team field. But plenty of folks are wary—it’s a logistical headache, and there’s real concern it could water down the regular season.
Key Issues and Debates
There are a few big sticking points shaping the debate over the CFP’s future.
Automatic Qualifiers and Conference Champions
One major argument: Should conference champs get automatic spots? The current plan would guarantee spots for the Power 4 champs and the highest-ranked Group of 6 champ.
But some, especially in the SEC, want to just take the 16 best teams, period. It’s a classic debate—do you reward conference winners, or just pick the top teams no matter what?
Impact on the Bowl System
Expanding the CFP is bound to shake up the old bowl system. More playoff teams means fewer big-name teams left for the non-CFP bowls.
There are 41 FBS bowl games right now, including the six major CFP bowls. Bowl Season executive director Nick Carparelli is still upbeat, pointing to higher TV ratings for non-CFP bowls lately. But honestly, until the playoff format is set, nobody really knows what’ll happen to the rest of the bowls.
Selection Committee and Tiebreakers
The CFP selection committee’s role is getting a closer look too. Their job’s only going to get tougher, especially with the SEC and ACC moving to nine-game conference slates.
That probably means more two- and three-loss teams in the mix, making it trickier to compare resumes.
Committee Composition
There’s a debate about whether sitting athletic directors should stay on the selection committee. Some folks think the pressure to make the playoff could cloud their judgment.
There’s talk of bringing in an independent committee chair, but for now, it doesn’t look like athletic directors are going anywhere.
Tiebreaker Rules
The ACC’s recent tiebreaker mess—where Miami got left out of the title game—has people talking about standardizing tiebreakers across the Power 4.
The idea is to make sure the best teams actually get into the CFP, maybe even using CFP rankings as a tiebreaker if it comes to that.
Future Considerations
All this uncertainty about the CFP’s future is having ripple effects across college football. The bigger the playoff, the bigger the impact on the regular season and the old bowl traditions.
There’s also a shared hope to keep the Army-Navy game in its usual late-season spot, so that’s another wrinkle for the schedule makers.
Revenue and Logistics
Expanding the playoff is going to take some serious planning when it comes to money and logistics. Right now, the commissioners and Bevacqua are the ones making the big calls—they don’t even need the board of managers to sign off.
Maybe that streamlines things, maybe it doesn’t. Either way, the next few months should be interesting.
Fan and Stakeholder Reactions
As talks drag on, fans, coaches, and players are weighing in. Their reactions could seriously influence what happens next with the CFP.
People seem to love the energy and home-field edge of first-round games in the 12-team playoff. Still, there’s plenty of buzz about whether we’ll see even more on-campus games if the playoff grows.
If you’re looking for more details and updates, check out the original ESPN article.
