Bill Hancock: College Football Playoff commissioners' meeting 'cordial,' no updates on 12-team structure

As the latest conference realignment wave swept the college football landscape, the question became how it would impact the College Football Playoff. The Pac-12 finds itself with just four teams — depending on what the ACC decides to do with Cal and Stanford — and that has led to speculation about the CFP’s 12-team format that starts next year.

At a commissioners’ meeting on Wednesday, CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said things remained “cordial” between the top power brokers in the game. However, he didn’t have an update on the 12-team structure, according to On3’s Eric Prisbell.

With so much uncertainty surrounding what the college football space will look like when the 2024 season kicks off, Hancock said it’s hard to say what the future of the CFP holds, as well.

“Going to have to wait until dust settles,” Hancock said.

The current 12-team format has bids for the top six ranked conference champions — space for each Power Five league and a Group of Five league — and six at-large bids. Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger previously reported said one early suggestion during preliminary discussions was to have five automatic bids and at-large bids as soon as 2024 in the wake of the Pac-12’s apparent break-up.

There’s another important factor in play, though. The College Football Playoff’s current television agreement with ESPN expires after 2025, meaning that could lead to an easier path to change the format because a media deal won’t be in the way.

Why conference realignment might not be done just yet

The month of August saw some of the biggest shakeups in college athletics history as the Pac-12 crumbled. The league’s media rights negotiations stalled, leading to multiple defections.

Starting in 2024, Oregon and Washington will join the Big Ten along with USC and UCLA, who announced their departures in late June 2022. That will take the league to 18 teams as the Big 12 also moves to 16 teams. Commissioner Brett Yormark landed his “dream scenario” by bringing in the Four Corners schools. Colorado announced it was heading back to the Big 12 in late July and the other three — Arizona, Arizona State and Utah — announced their plans to join the Buffaloes a week later.

That left Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State behind. Cal and Stanford could be on their way to the ACC, though, as the league prepares to meet and discuss those additions, along with SMU. However, the league postponed a Monday meeting due to a shooting on the campus at North Carolina. No re-schedule date had been reported at the time of publication.

As for OSU and Wazzu, both the American Athletic Conference and the Mountain West have expressed interest in the two programs, On3 has previously reported.

The timing of the conference realignment moves could have a major impact on the College Football Playoff

The 2023 season will mark the end of the four-team College Football Playoff format which has been around since the CFP’s inception in 2014. Originally, the plan was to expand the Playoff in 2026 when the agreement with ESPN ended after the 2025 season. However, the CFP came to a deal with the bowl games — most notably the Rose Bowl — to expand early.

Shortly after news broke of the Big Ten and Big 12’s plans to grow in 2024, Hancock said it was still too early to tell how the CFP would be impacted by so many major changes.

“It’s too soon to say,” Hancock told The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel. “The CFP Management Committee and the Board will discuss the future format when it becomes appropriate.”