Greg Sankey says 12-team playoff format might need adjustment due to conference realignment

The College Football Playoff is set to expand to 12 teams with the 2024 season, but whether it will do so in the currently planned format remains to be seen.

Already there have been questions about whether the number of automatic bids for conference champions might change in light of the massive upheaval surrounding the Pac-12 in recent weeks. Currently the Pac-12 is only slated to have four teams in the 2024 season.

The bottom line right now is that College Football Playoff administrators are still somewhat in wait-and-see mode.

“It remains to be seen, but how many FBS conferences will exist in 30 or 60 days, particularly as we head into next season if you want to lengthen that timeframe?” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on Tuesday on The Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network.

“We’ve been engaged in the right kind of conversations around future media opportunities, around the logistical issues and decisions related to the first round of games on campus and how do we move that into bowl games. But we do have changed circumstances.”

Nobody is quite sure when this current round of conference realignment will end. Already the ACC is exploring potential expansion options that might include two Pac-12 schools and/or SMU.

The more moves occur, the less stable the outlook for the currently planned 12-team College Football Playoff will appear.

Sankey acknowledged that possibility on the air on Tuesday.

“Right now we still have 10 FBS conferences, but there’s obviously a great question about whether that will remain,” he said. “Yeah, that could create a thought in my mind and I think in others about some level of adjustment being made.”

Sankey explained the original goal in putting together the 12-team format.

“I’ll go back to what I wanted to see and worked to achieve with a group of colleagues, and that was a 12-team format that struck I think a unique balance between honoring conference champions and then providing increased access for the best teams, not conference champions,” Sankey said. “And that was with an understanding of 10 FBS conferences. We have some independents, Notre Dame obviously being central there.”

That’s obviously a big question mark now for the College Football Playoff. It doesn’t seem likely that there will still be 10 FBS conferences, at least not as well-balanced in terms of number of teams and quality as they were before.

“I do think the access we’ve created through the 12-team format still seems wise, but maybe there are elements and specifics of what was decided when we had clarity around 10 conferences that might need to be adjusted given what’s happening right now,” Sankey said.