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By Cameron Kiszla
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It seems the trial balloon for an expanded College Football Playoff has been shot down.
As detailed by Chris Vannini of The Athletic, ESPN was reportedly looking to find a compromise between the two biggest conferences — the SEC and the Big Ten — regarding CFP expansion.
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The current 12-team format, while an improvement over the previous four-team version, is expected to grow even larger. The question that remains is how much larger.
The SEC is seeking a 16-team playoff, commissioner Greg Sankey told Seth Emerson of The Athletic late last year.
The Big Ten, meanwhile, reportedly wants a 24-team playoff.
ESPN apparently floated a sort of compromise — a 20-team playoff that replaces conference championship games with four "play-in" games in the major conferences, resulting in a 16-team bracket.
That idea, however, doesn't seem to be getting any traction.
"The mood coming out of Monday’s meeting [of the CFP management committee] was that a 20-team model will not be taken seriously," Vannini reports. "The SEC and Big Ten remain far apart."
At issue, as is usually the case in college sports these days, is money, specifically broadcasting rights.
Those conference championship games, while now essentially obsolete due to the CFP, "are worth more than $200 million to the conferences in broadcast rights fees, so any additional playoff rounds that replace them would need to more than make up for that amount," Vannini explained.
While ESPN, which broadcasts the SEC, ACC and Big 12 championships, would seek to create more games to offset the conference championships, they don't want to create an opportunity for their biggest rival.
"Fox Sports, which holds the Big Ten broadcast rights, has stated that it prefers a 24-team field and would be interested in acquiring rights for it," Vannini reports.
So if a 20-team compromise is off the table, which are we more likely to get, 24 or 16 teams?
It's hard to say, but as the deliberations continue, time is running out.
If a new format can't be agreed upon by the deadline — currently Dec. 1 — the 12-team model will remain at least through the 2027 season.
That said, there's always reason for optimism.
“I go back to ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ right? Saying there’s a chance,” Sankey said.
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