Report: CFP Board hopes to agree on new playoff format 'within a year'

College Football Playoff talks could be starting up again, according to a report. The CFP board president shared some insight on the situation during an interview with Sports Illustrated this week.

Mississippi State president and chairman of the CFP Board of Managers Mark Keenum told SI’s Ross Dellenger he hopes the committee can agree on a new format by next summer. Talks stalled earlier this calendar year, but Keenum said guidance could be coming soon to kickstart the conversations again.

“I hope we can get something done within a year,” Keenum told Dellenger.

In February, the CFP committee elected to keep the four-team format in place through the 2025 season. During the negotiations, Keenum said some people went back-and-forth with their thoughts about potential expansion in the future. An eight-team format and a 12-team setup were both discussed during the initial conversations.

“It was frustrating,” Keenum told Dellenger. “The same people who wanted expansion originally voted against (the proposal).”

Keenum told Dellenger the next round of negotiations would start with 12 teams and go from there, but added a 16-team proposal is “out there.” He also added he thinks 10 of the 11 members of the CFP would be in favor of expansion.

Keenum’s comments came during the SEC spring meetings in Destin shortly after commissioner Greg Sankey spoke about the current format. He told reporters “we have to think about” the current setup because it only runs through 2025. After that, the future is murky, especially considering the contract with ESPN ends that same year.

“After 2025 there is nothing,” said Sankey, via The Athletic’s Seth Emerson. “Literally nothing. … It was not created as a threat. It is not intended as a threat.”

Greg Sankey uses NCAA baseball tournament snubs to make CFP expansion point

During the SEC spring meetings, Sankey made another point about expanding the CFP. He pointed to the college baseball tournament, which saw NC State get snubbed from the tournament field.

“I’ve been open in public that eight teams without automatic qualifiers is something we have an interest in exploring,” Sankey said. “But that didn’t seem to have the support, the notion that we have to grant automatic bids. So what’s ironic is the day after baseball selection, where people are concerned about really good teams not being selected, we give away a whole lot of automatic bids you wonder about. At some point, there’s a balance here of who wants automatic bids and who doesn’t want it.”