Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould reveals conference's stance on College Football Playoff expansion

Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould revealed the conference’s stance on the College Football Playoff and its inevitable expansion. The Pac-12 itself expanded, or well, expanded from two teams to its new group of schools.

But right now, the Power Four conferences don’t include the Pac-12 at this time. So it’s an interesting time for Gould and company to consider auto-bids, at larges and how the playoff is all structured. She joined Sirius XM to explain.

“Look, I was thrust into that room in February of 2024 as I was transitioning into the commissioner role,” Gould told Sirius XM. “So it was an interesting time to be a new member of the CFP management committee. And I will just preface all this by saying like there is a reality of everybody that’s in that room, whether it’s the commissioners or the athletic director from Notre Dame, are coming into that room representing a set of stakeholders that they respond and answer to, right?

“That’s just the reality. So we all come into that room needing to go back and represent the feedback from our membership. I will say we are certainly at a critical crossroads in terms of the future of college football, and, you know, kind of the health and viability of college football and creating something that is responsive to what we’re hearing from the fans, what the fans want, right?” 

The fans’ desire, when it comes to the College Football Playoff, is certainly mixed. Do fans like the way it’s structured now, want more teams, less? 

“The fans, you know, support this great game and make it possible, so we need to always keep front of mind the student athlete experience and what we’re hearing from our fans,” Gould said. “I do support a model on a couple of fronts. Number one, that is based on access of current and recent metrics. There’s been some talk about some kind of historic, competitive history, and I’m not sure how much any of that is relevant right now, given that everything in college football has been turned upside down over the last four years. 

“So first and foremost, I’m a proponent of, you know, coming up with a format that is based on competitive metrics that are current in the NIL and transfer portal era, because I think that has changed the game and has changed institutions and programs opportunities to better themselves and better themselves quickly. So that’s one thing that I’ve said consistently.” 

No more hypotheticals or what would happen here or there. Gould wants to focus, as much as possible, on the results on the field when it comes to the College Football Playoff.

“I think the second thing is in support of our student athletes and our programs that are all investing at a high level,” Gould said. “You know, we want the games to be played and decided on the field and for every game to matter during the regular season, and for programs to have a shot at accessing the championship and not have there be some predetermined pre-allocated spots based on outdated metrics.”