Kevin Warren announces support for Playoff expansion, promotes multiple media partners

Commissioner Kevin Warren took questions from the media to open up Big Ten Media Days. One of the key questions that Warren, as one of the most powerful figures in college athletics, had to answer was on College Football Playoff expansion. He made it clear that he’s in favor of expanding the Playoff.

“I’m 100% supportive of College Football Playoff expansion,” said Kevin Warren.

This comes after Kevin Warren led the group who previously voted against College Football Playoff expansion. At the time, he said he was in favor of expansion, but said there were unresolved issues. Following the vote, Warren said, “I trust that we will continue to collectively address the unresolved matters and move forward with expansion for the greater good of college football.”

He would go on to point out that there are new people in the room, discussing College Football Playoff expansion. This should, hypothetically, bring in new ideas to help the leagues come together.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“I’m excited that we now will have some new members in the room that will have very creative ideas,” said Kevin Warren. “Even in the Big Ten Conference, our new presidential reprehensive will be Dr. Kristina Johnson–the president at the Ohio State University…so to be able to get her ideas as far as what format is best, I’m looking forward to working with her. And, then, we have a new commissioner Brett Yormark in the Big 12 Conference who’s replacing Bob Bowlsby. Brett is a marketing wizard–very innovative. So, I’m excited. We have meetings coming up in September and October to be able to talk about these issues.”

Details about what expansion looks like remains unclear. Kevin Warren didn’t give any insight into this either. However, he’s confident that differences of opinion in formatting can be resolved.

“I’m 100% supportive for College Football Playoff expansion,” Kevin Warren said. “What is that right number? We’ll figure it out. I’m confident we’ll get College Football Playoff expansion resolved.”

Kevin Warren spoke about the CFP’s media partners

The Big Ten is currently negotiating a new media deal with Fox. The SEC’s media deal is with ESPN. These two conferences are seen by many as the power conferences moving forward. However, the College Football Playoff is broadcast by ESPN exclusively. Kevin Warren feels that this needs to change.

“I still feel strongly that we need to open it up to have multiple media partners that we would need to have from a College Football Playoff standpoint.” Kevin Warren said.

Kevin Warren explained his approach to College Football Playoff expansion as being holistic.

“We need to take a holistic view. We need to make sure that we protect some of the critical bowl relationships. So, as we work through all of these, whether it’s automatic qualifiers–whatever the case may be. I’m confident as we get these new individuals in the room, get these issues on the table, that we’ll be able to reach some resolution.”