At least for now, expanded College Football Playoff format remains unchanged

The format for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, which begins next year, remains unchanged – at least for now.

One month after punting on major decisions because of conference realignment uncertainty, the College Football Playoff’s Management Committee again convened to address pressing issues related to the expanded tournament.

Only there’s still no clarity – the Pac-12 Conference’s future remains unsettled. So the committee will not make any changes at the moment to the agreed-upon structure in place for the first two years of the 12-team College Football Playoff.

For now, the format is expected to consist of the six highest-ranked conference champions joining the six highest-ranked at-large teams for a super-charged event that will undoubtedly cement college football as the nation’s No. 2 favorite sport, behind only the NFL (if it’s not there already). That is the structure agreed upon – again, for now – for the next two years, at least until a new media rights deal takes hold.

In the coming age of the Power Four conference era, the so-called “6+6” format would be a big win for Group of Five conferences, whose two highest-ranked champions would secure access to the tournament, at least for the event’s first two years. 

FBS commissioners want clarity

The committee – comprised of 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick – has been looking for clarity on the 2024 conference landscape before addressing potential changes to the tournament format. But the landscape remains shrouded in uncertainty. 

As each industry leader entered two days of closed-door meetings in Chicago this week, the horizon remained opaque. As it turned out, a potential change to the expanded College Football Playoff’s format was not even discussed during the meetings, Swarbrick told Yahoo! Sports‘ Ross Dellenger.

It’s unclear whether that’s because of the absence of industry clarity or the lack of unanimity among conference commissioners – or both. Regardless, there’s one monkey wrench thrown into the dynamic: While the Pac-12 as we know it is destroyed, the conference has not formally dissolved.

The CFP Management Committee is in a holding pattern until and unless the Pac-12 formally folds. Just a few months ago, the notion of that reality would have been an extraordinary scenario to even contemplate.

“One thing that happened that I never would’ve dreamed would ever happen, happened,” Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP, told reporters, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich. “It’s totally weird and everybody knows it.”

Aresco would oppose CFP format change

Amid the widely held belief that the Pac-12 will no longer be a viable FBS league, much less a Power Five Conference, the committee has in the past discussed different formats. There’s the so-called “5+7” model, in which the five highest-ranked conference champions join the seven highest-ranked at-large teams. 

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey also has floated the idea of tournament bids simply going to the 12 highest-ranked teams, a model that would undoubtedly favor his league and the Big Ten. Starting next year, the SEC will have 16 teams, while the Big Ten will have 18. It is unclear how much support, if any, that concept has among fellow commissioners.

But here’s the key: The Management Committee needs unanimity for any changes to move forward. The CFP’s Board of Managers – comprised of presidents from 10 FBS schools and Notre Dame – have the final say in a vote.

At least one conference commissioner, Mike Aresco of the American Athletic Conference, signaled to reporters on site that he would oppose any changes right now to the “6+6” format. It’s advantageous for Aresco to support that format because it would provide two Group of Five champions guaranteed access to the event for the next two years, even if they are unranked.

Last month in Dallas, MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher called honoring conference champions a “bedrock principle.”

Will Pac-12 remain FBS conference in 2024?

But it remains an open question how many FBS leagues will even exist in 2024. 

Eight Pac-12 schools this summer jumped to greener pastures. But the remaining Pac-2 teams, Oregon State and Washington State, have not given up hope of operating a two-school league at least for one year. They are waging a court battle against the league and beleaguered commissioner George Kliavkoff over control of valuable conference assets, including NCAA tournament financial units.  

The NCAA mandates that FBS conferences must include at least eight schools. But there is a two-year grace period granted. So with creative scheduling, it’s conceivable that OSU and WSU could operate in 2024 as a two-team league. 

Would the CFP view a two-team league as a viable FBS league?

“We haven’t spent any time on it,” Swarbrick told reporters Wednesday.

Does Kliavkoff still have voting authority in CFP meetings? Hancock said Kliavkoff participated in votes on everything related to this season.

It’s also possible, if not probable, that the Pac-2 will ultimately join Mountain West Conference schools, perhaps in a reverse merger that would enable the league to lean on the strong brand value of the Pac-12 name. 

It’s unlikely that such a league would be considered a power league. But these are all hypotheticals.

The CFP meetings – both last month in Dallas and this week in Chicago – provided an interesting dynamic after a summer of landscape-shifting realignment madness. Kliavkoff is sitting in the same closed-door meeting with three commissioners – the Big 12’s Brett Yormark, the ACC’s Jim Phillips and the Big Ten’s Tony Petitti – as well MWC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez, who has been recruiting the remaining Pac-2 schools.

How many TV partners will tournament have?

There are other issues that need to be settled.

Revenue sharing among conferences is a question. Power leagues have been receiving 80% of the revenue pie, with Group of Five conferences receiving 20%. How might the revenue structure change with only four power conferences remains to be seen.

CFP leaders need to decide on a revenue model for the next two years. Its rights contract with ESPN, worth some $470 million annually, expires in 2026. After that, the property could yield some $2 billion in a rights deal that may potentially include multiple partners. The CFP will essentially start from scratch in crafting a revenue model for 2026 and beyond.

There’s also a question about how many media partners the College Football Playoff will have for the 2024 and 2025 tournaments. ESPN has the rights for later-round games – the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals – and first dibs on the four first-round games. 

But Hancock, the CFP’s executive director, said last month that conversations are underway – with ESPN’s knowledge – with other potential partners for those four games. He said not all are linear TV networks. No firm deadline exists to find a broadcast partner for those four games.

Hancock told reporters that five TV companies sent executives to make representations Wednesday, and another four or five have expressed interest.

“Streaming adds another element,” Hancock said, per ESPN. “We are not averse to streaming some of the games. I wouldn’t expect us to stream all of them, but right now nothing is off the table.”