CFP Expansion Meeting to Take Place Friday

There is apparent “momentum” in the college football world that the board of managers will hold a meeting Friday that could accelerate playoff expansion as early as 2024.

Logistics

The College Football Playoff (CFP) has only four years left on a 12-year contract that expiries following the 2025 season.

At a previous meeting, the commissioners had decided on keeping the playoffs at four after the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 all voted against the proposed 12-team model.

With this decision, the 10 FBS conferences along with Notre Dame gave up an estimated $450 million in potential revenue.

On the other hand, other conferences have voiced their support for playoff expansion.

“We’re closer than we ever have been to agreeing to a format,” Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said. “The lack of agreement about a format held us back from doing it quickly, as opposed to slowly.”

Proposed Format

The proposed format that the board of managers will be voting on is a 12-team playoff. The new field of 12 would consist of the six highest ranked conference champions as automatic bids along with the six at-large teams.

This 12-team playoff has an approximated value at $1.2 billion annually, doubling the current $600 million. Additionally, the new format also allows teams who have a difficult time making the four-team playoff more feasible.

The CFP Board of Managers will meet to discuss College Football Playoff expansion on Friday.
Here is how the 12 team model with home playoff games from last year would’ve looked: pic.twitter.com/cG3AOF1qxQ

— CFB Playoff Edits (@CFBPlayoffEdits) September 1, 2022

To keep things interesting, the Board of Managers have yet to rule out the chance of a 16-team playoff. The 12-team format is still the favorite, although the Board of Managers haven’t ruled anything out.

“That would energize and really help college football become much healthier,” American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said. “It would make championship game weekend enormous. We think a 16-team playoff is something we absolutely should consider, and if it included 10 automatic and six at-larges it would be great for college football.”

A vote worth monitoring, the future of college football could look different in upcoming years.