ESPN: 14-team College Football Playoff is expected to be formalized in next 24 hours

A 14-team College Football Playoff is close to becoming reality. The 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame are preparing to agree to the next contract in the next 24 hours, ESPN’s Heather Dinich and Pete Thamel reported.

The expectation is each conference and Notre Dame will sign a memorandum of understanding by “midday” Friday, Dinich said. That news comes one day after Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported the Big 12 and ACC presidents unanimously approved framework for the new-look CFP, including a new revenue model and “concepts” for a new format.

This year, the CFP will expand to 12 teams, but the 14-team format would begin in 2026 at the same time a new media deal would begin with ESPN. As the discussions went along, there were a few ideas about what that would look like – including multiple automatic qualifiers for the Power Conferences.

Reported discussions also included automatic byes for the Big Ten and SEC following their expansions. However, ESPN reported the CFP is reconsidering that idea after public backlash – including from Big 12 and ACC coaches.

A closer look at the changes coming to the CFP

Media rights were another component to the discussions about what’s next for the CFP. The network is reportedly preparing to re-up its agreement to the tune of a six-year, $7.8 billion deal, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. That comes out to $1.3 billion annually.

The next question then becomes revenue distribution. Last week, Dellenger reported the Big Ten and SEC were proposing a model that would allow them to receive a bigger slice of the pie.

Thursday, he reported the specifics. The Big Ten and SEC would each receive 29% of the base revenue, while the Big 12 and ACC get 17.1% and 14.7%, respectively. That leaves 9% left for the G5 conferences, 1% for Notre Dame and less than 1% for UConn, Oregon State and Washington State.

Dinich said there were questions about the Group of 5 conferences’ position in the negotiations. However, they made one thing clear. They didn’t want to be left out.

“It’s like the Godfather’s offer you can’t refuse,” a G5 athletic director told Dinich.

Greg Sankey: ‘We should’ve been grinding through’ details of the new-look playoff format in 2022 or 2023

As the discussions went along, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said he thinks the different topics of discussion now should’ve come up earlier. That’s why he expressed “frustration” about where things stand.

“We have a reality for the College Football Playoff that says we need to be in conversations,” Sankey said ahead of the SEC women’s basketball tournament game between Auburn and LSU. “And it’s been a four-year work project for me that others decided to just put on the shelf for basically two years.

“Part of my frustration is the details that we’re trying to grind through right now, we should’ve been grinding through back in 2022 or 2023, not 2024. But problems yield in effort, that’s a mantra of mine.”