Report: SEC, Big Ten 'building momentum' to expand College Football Playoff to 14 or 16 teams

The SEC and Big Ten are building momentum to further expand the College Football Playoff to 14 or 16 teams, according to Yahoo Sports‘ Ross Dellenger.

Executives of 10 FBS leagues and Notre Dame signed a memorandum of understanding handing control over to the two power conferences, per the report. And now they’re going to exercise that control.

“Within the SEC and Big Ten, momentum is building to further expand the playoff to 14 or 16 teams, assign multiple automatic qualifiers per league — as many as four each for themselves — and finalize a scheduling arrangement together that may fetch millions in additional revenue from TV partners, sources told Yahoo Sports,” Dellenger wrote.

“The playoff format change would clear the way for SEC administrators to, finally, make the long-discussed move to play nine regular-season conference games and would trigger, perhaps, all four power leagues to overhaul their conference championship weekend.”

Back in September, ESPN reported the SEC and Big Ten looked for four automatic bids to the playoff, marking a substantial change.

Now, final decisions on these potential changes regarding the College Football Playoff are expected in the coming weeks.

College Football Playoff could see massive changes due to SEC, Big Ten

Dellenger reported the SEC and the Big Ten hold sole discretion on the future of the playoff format starting in 2026, which is the beginning of the new six-year television agreement with ESPN.

That’s where the automatic qualifiers bit comes in and that includes more than just the SEC and Big Ten.

“Leaders in each conference have spent the last several weeks evolving a format idea — multiple automatic qualifiers per league — into a more realistic proposal,” Dellenger wrote. “The 14- or 16-team model would grant four automatic qualifiers each to the SEC and Big Ten; two each to the ACC and Big 12; and one to the highest-ranked Group of Five champion. It includes one or three at-large spots, one of those intended for Notre Dame if it finishes ranked inside the top 14 — a guarantee specifically designated for the Irish that is part of the CFP memorandum.

“Officials describe the 14-team format as a 4-4-2-2-1+1 model in which the top two seeds receive first-round byes. There would be no byes in a 16-team structure. In either, the CFP selection committee’s role is greatly diminished. The committee, its future — as the memorandum stipulates — also controlled by the SEC and Big Ten, would presumably seed 1 through 14 or 16 based directly on its top-25 rankings.”

Dellenger reported the Big 12 and ACC are not in favor of a format with many automatic qualifiers for the SEC and Big Ten for the playoff. Not all, but most. Group of Five leaders will also reportedly fight to potentially expand upon their one automatic spot.

So other than expansion and auto bids for the playoff, the SEC could finally be bound for nine conference games, to be on par with the Big Ten. How do the SEC and Big Ten get to their four bids? It could be a remake of conference championship weekend.

“In either multi-AQ playoff proposal, conference championship games likely become less valuable, and a reimagined championship weekend may feature conference play-in games for the automatic berths … These discussions, though preliminary, are happening at the highest levels of conference leadership,” Dellenger wrote.

More details about those ramifications can be read here.