The question isn’t “if” the College Football Playoff will expand. It’s “by how much?” The sport’s most powerful conferences, the SEC and Big Ten, have been at odds over the future of what is now a 12-team CFP, with a 16-team format supported by the SEC and a 24-team format favored by the Big Ten.
But a push for a 24-team field is ramping up, despite the SEC’s continued resistance. Count the ACC in.
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On Tuesday, during the ACC’s annual spring meetings, athletic directors and head football coaches demonstrated their interest in a 24-team playoff, as reported by Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.
“There is consensus,” one ACC leader said, per Dellenger.
“The room isn’t split,” said another, according to Dellenger.
The ACC is coming off a season in which it was represented by only one school in the CFP: Miami, which made a run to the national title game before falling to undefeated Indiana.
Last month, during a presidential committee call that included a collection of significant CFP decision-makers, the 24-team format gained momentum, as documented in an April 21 report from Dellenger.
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The presidential committee consists of 14 members. It includes media executives, business moguls and a long-time adviser to President Donald Trump, as well as Notre Dame’s AD and commissioners of the Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, ACC and American, per Dellenger.
While that committee won’t make the call on expansion, according to Dellenger, it can make recommendations to the White House that may inform a congressional bill.
Regardless, in order for expansion to occur, the SEC and Big Ten must compromise. After all, they were effectively given the keys to dictating CFP expansion two years ago, when FBS commissioners and Notre Dame leadership signed a memorandum of understanding before agreeing to a new media rights deal with ESPN.
ESPN is the sole media rights holder of the CFP and will be through the 2031-32 season.
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College football’s conference commissioners failed to agree on an expanded format for the postseason ahead of this year’s Jan. 23 deadline that ESPN set, per Dellenger. And, so, the CFP will remain at 12 teams for the 2026 season.
The most-discussed version of the 24-team model, per Dellenger, is one that would give first-round byes to the top-eight teams. The hypothetical format would feature two rounds of competition on campuses before the six CFP bowls would host quarterfinals and semifinals. In that scenario, conference championship games would be scrapped, but the thought is that there’d be 12 additional CFP games to make up for financial losses.
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Dellenger has reported that supporters of the 24-team field boast what they believe would be an increase in value for November games, as more programs would be in the mix to make the playoff at that point in the season. They also tout the possibility of administrators being more likely to schedule marquee non-conference matchups, since early-season losses wouldn’t cast as big of a shadow on a school’s CFP résumé like they can now, even in the 12-team era.
Conversely, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has maintained, according to Dellenger, that a 24-team playoff would negatively affect the sanctity of the regular season and could have adverse consequences on student-athletes’ health and welfare. Of course, acquiescing to the 24-team model would likely mean giving up the SEC title game, too.
