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Report: College Football Playoff unanimously votes to expand to 12 teams

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater09/02/22

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Kevin Abele | Getty Images

The College Football Playoff will officially change following the decision today by the Board of Managers to expand to 12 teams. With discussions of expansion heating up over the last several weeks, the format will now include a dozen programs. Now it’s about when this format could take effect.

The meeting was first reported by SI’s Ross Dellenger. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was then one of the first to report the decision. The 11 committee members voted unanimously to officially expand the playoff. He says, as of now, the changes will not take place until the 2026 season after ESPN’s contract with the CFP expires following the 2025 playoffs.

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However, the changes are reportedly open to happening as soon as 2024 or 2025 due to the unanimity of the vote according to Dellenger. That doesn’t guarantee expansion will happen, though, but is a potential with the main focus still on 2026. In the end, Thamel says money was a major factor in the outcome and could drive decision makers to apply this format to begin earlier than the 2026 goal.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich joined Get Up this morning to break down the implications of this move.

“This could be – could be – a historic decision that changes college football’s postseason as soon as 2024. Sources indicate that not even people in the room know which way this is going to play out. There are several possibilities that have been mentioned,” said Dinich. “One is that they agree on a 12-team (playoff) that begins in the 2026 season. Remember, this contract goes through 2025. If it happens before 2026, these presidents and chancellors must be unanimous on the format. If it’s not unanimous, they could change it more easily for 2026. Then there’s a sense that they can work backwards and say can we do this for 2024? 2025? There are several options that are on the table. They might not even vote. The question is can they agree on the format, and if so, when?”

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Dinich has since added that the model at the moment would feature the six highest-ranked conference champions followed by the six highest-ranked teams after them. According to The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach, the CFP could shift to the 12-team format early through a one-to-two year package with ESPN rather than continuing the current deal. All that is due to the urgency to have the new model applied as soon as possible.

With this foundational decision made, the next thing on the board’s docket is a meeting next week in Dallas. The committee, consisting of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick, will discuss a handful of topics. That list includes revenue distribution in the expanded playoff, the Rose Bowl, and automatic qualifiers.

This completely changes the future landscape of college football. With the field expanded, several more teams will now have a chance to win a national title. There’s still a lot to determine now, especially the now expanded schedule of the College Football Playoff, but this is a massive decision for the sport and the programs who will now get a chance to compete for the ultimate prize.