No decision made on college football playoff expansion

After announcing in June plans to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, the College Football Playoff board of managers have not reached a decision regarding the proposed expansion plan.

Last week, the CFP board of managers, which is made up of 11 university presidents and chancellors, planned to hold a vote on Sept. 28 to expand the playoff from the current four-team format to 12 teams. The board postponed the vote after multiple FBS commissioners raised questions and concerns about the proposal during a Sept. 22 meeting. CFP executive director Bill Hancock, various FBS commissioners and the board of managers still met on Sept. 28 to further discuss the concerns. Concerns raised include media rights, the schools’ academic calendar, student athletes’ health and conference realignment.

CFP executive director Bill Hancock, after today's meeting with commissioners and presidents (virtually), said there are still many complex issues to sort out with expansion.

"This is exactly how a process like this should work."

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) September 28, 2021

Expansion models

Although the current proposal would expand the playoffs to 12 teams, the various meeting participants also discussed four-team, eight-team and 12-team models, according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. There seems to be support for college playoff expansion, the question is how many teams?

The proposed 12-team model places the six best conference champions in the playoff with six spots up for grabs. The four highest conference champions will be the top-four teams and have a first round bye. The rest of the teams would play the first round on the home field of the higher ranked team. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in bowl games with the national championship being a standalone game, mimicking the current format.

According to ESPN senior writer Heather Dinch, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told ESPN after a meeting on Sept. 22 that there is clear support for expansion.

“The support for expansion is clear, which is great,” Swarbrick said. “I think the focus will be on the issues surrounding the 12-team model.”

Furthermore, Dinch reported that American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said the AAC strongly supports the expansion. However, not all agree with Swarbrick and Aresco.

In an article written by ESPN’s Andrea Adelson in August, West Virginia president Gordon Gee stated that he believed that the expansion is “on life support” and that he would not vote for it. With various university presidents and chancellors raising concerns, there is no specific timetable for a vote. The next scheduled meeting with the board of managers is in January during the 2022 National Championship Game.

Contracts

The CFP is currently in the eighth year of a 12 year television contract with ESPN, but an expansion could still happen regardless of the contract. Rittenberg reported that Tuesday’s meeting included discussion over media rights. However, he said that Hancock declined to offer specifics other than the CFP format will be finalized before media rights are discussed.

Hancock says the expanded CFP format will be finalized before media partners are bought in. ESPN was not part of today's meeting.

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) September 28, 2021

Additionally, Rittenberg said that if the expansion is approved within the current contract, it would need to be in the next “three to four months.” If not, he said that they have “several years to sort it out.”

Furthermore, Dinch reported that ESPN would have the first choice of any new games. Should ESPN not pick up any other games, the CFP could move to the open market. Dinch also reported that majority of commissioners supported having multiple television partners for the playoff.

Conference realignment

Playing a major role in delaying the college playoff expansion is the major conference realignment brought on by Texas and Oklahoma announcing their intentions to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC over the summer. Since then, the SEC formally invited the two universities, forcing the Big 12 to invite other schools to replace them.

Breaking: Texas and Oklahoma have officially accepted invitations to join the SEC beginning in 2025. pic.twitter.com/EIu7Vr40ls

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 30, 2021

On Sept. 10, the Big 12 announced that UCF, Cincinnati and BYU will join the conference no later than 2024. Along with this, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC announced that they joined together in an alliance that sees the three conferences schedule games against each other in the future.

Playoff history

The current four-team format first started in the 2014 season, ending the BCS era that spanned 16 seasons. In the inaugural playoff, No. 4 Ohio State upset No. 1 Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl to advance to the National Championship Game. From there, they upset No. 2 Oregon to win their first championship since 2002. In eight total playoffs, Alabama and Clemson are both currently tied with eight appearances, with both teams’ most recent appearance coming last season. The Crimson Tide currently have the most championships in that span with three (2015, 2017 and 2020).

The 2022 College Football Playoff will begin on Dec. 31 with the semifinals at the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl. The CFP National Championship Game will be played on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.