College Football Playoff expansion voting results revealed
On Friday, the College Football Playoff announced it would not be changing its format anytime soon, keeping the four team playoff through the 2025 season. ESPN will continue to have the right to broadcast the games before a new deal and possible format is decided on for the 2026 season.
In order for expansion to happen, there must be 11 votes from the 10 FBS conferences plus Notre Dame in favor and none against. However, when they voted on the matter in January, it finished 8-3, with the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 voting against expansion according to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic.
“The vote on CFP expansion — which needed to be 11-0 in order to change the format prior to 2026 — was indeed an 8-3 vote last month, a source told (The Athletic),” Auerbach said on Twitter. “ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 voted against it. CFP board chair Mark Keenum confirmed this to (Sports Illustrated) today.”
The ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 have been working together when talking about College Football Playoff expansion, forming “The Alliance” before the beginning of the 2021 football season. While it was originally thought scheduling each other for nonconference matchups would be part of the deal, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has said the conference will keep its current practices.
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Despite voting against the expansion, Pac-12 commissioner George Klivakoff expressed his disappointment in the vote. He said he, along with the nine other commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick will continue to work toward finding a new format for the College Football Playoff.
“I share the disappointment felt by many college football fans today,” Klivakoff said via Twitter. “I look forward to working collaboratively with other Commissioners to deliver a football playoff format that is more inclusive and balanced.”
For at least four more seasons, there will only be four teams able to participate for the right to a national championship. Whether the next round of expansion is at six, eight, 10, 12, or even 16, is yet to be determined and will be revised within the next five seasons.