Nine FBS conferences and Notre Dame have signed off on extending the College Football Playoff through the 2031 season, including an agreement on a new revenue distribution model beginning in 2026 in which the Big Ten and SEC will receive larger shares than the other conferences.
The conferences had previously approved an expanded 12-team event for the 2024 and ’25 seasons, in which the five highest-ranked conference champions will receive automatic berths. CFP executive director Bill Hancock said the agreed-upon extension ensures the Playoff will remain “no smaller” than 12 teams and continue with no fewer than five conference champs, but the reported push by certain leagues to expand the bracket to 14 teams has been put on hold.
Advertisement
Hancock indicated there are some within the commissioner ranks that now want to wait until after the first 12-team event this winter before deciding whether to further tweak the format.
“The number of teams will be part of the discussions about the format which will be happening at some point in the future,” said Hancock. “… We’re going to take a deep breath, step back and begin those conversations whenever it’s appropriate. Some people have said, maybe you should wait (until after this season), others have said no, we should go ahead. There’s a lot of ideas that need to be processed.”
The CFP does not need to make that decision before approving its reported six-year, $7.8 billion deal with ESPN because the network is unwilling to pay more money for additional first-round games, according to executives briefed on the negotiations.
“People have talked about 12 and 14,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on SEC Network on Thursday. “Let’s set those maybe as bookends to the conversation, put them on the shelf, where bookends belong, for a moment, get this 12 thing right, get it locked in, and then we’ll go forward.”
While Oregon State and Washington State have pledged to continue operating the Pac-12 for the next two years, that conference was not one of the signees Friday. The CFP added a rule last year following the Pac-12’s implosion that a conference must have eight teams to receive an automatic berth.
“As of now, it’s not anticipated the Pac-12 will be part of this (in 2026),” said Hancock, though the Beavers and Cougars remain eligible for at-large berths.
Statement regarding today’s @CFBPlayoff decision. pic.twitter.com/x08MaB80QO
— WSU Office of the President (@WSU_Cougar_Pres) March 15, 2024
Multiple sources briefed on the revenue model confirmed the new breakdown to be roughly 29 percent annually for both the Big Ten and SEC (more than $21 million per school), 17 percent for the ACC (around $13 million each), 15 percent for the Big 12 ($12 million each) and 9 percent for the Group of 5 conferences collectively (around $1.8 million per school). The remainder goes to independents, including more than $12 million for Notre Dame, and the Football Championship Subdivision. There is an additional performance bonus available only to independents for making the CFP field; Notre Dame would receive an additional $6 million for making the Playoff, putting its payout within striking distance of the Big Ten and SEC in those years.
Advertisement
The new deal is also expected to include a look-in clause in 2028, allowing the parties to potentially reshape the agreement based on performance or further conference realignment.
While every conference and team will receive more money in 2026 than they do under the current contract, this new revenue split represents a dramatic change. Since the creation of the CFP, the power conferences have roughly equally split 80 percent of the pot.
The new agreement further establishes the Big Ten and SEC’s financial advantage over the rest of the FBS, including the other Power 4 conferences in the ACC and Big 12. The Big Ten and SEC already earn tens of millions more annually than the other two through their new conference TV contracts. This CFP deal adds tens of millions more to the difference, and the Big Ten and SEC secured it by using their leverage as the leagues home to most of the CFP participants to date.
“It’s like playing a football game while also being able to change the rules and penalties during the game and controlling the officials,” said a Group of 5 athletic director, granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations, of the Big Ten and SEC’s approach. “It’s simply incredibly brazen, unnecessary and dangerous.”
The Group of 5 conferences have privately expressed some frustration with the broader agreement, in which they will see only a slight increase in their payout and the removal of a performance bonus for qualifying. G5 commissioners held a call with each other earlier this week about the situation. But they also understand they don’t have much leverage and it’s better to be in the fold than outside of it. They’ve got a spot in the field.
The terms of the ESPN deal have been set for some time, according to executives, but the conferences had delayed approving it due to a lack of clarity over the structure of the event once the current contract expires in two years. The clock was ticking because ESPN’s deal includes the rights to the four on-campus first-round games that will be played this December and next as part of the new 12-team bracket. The CFP met with numerous potential media partners during recent negotiations, but no other network made a bid for any games.
Advertisement
Further discussions are needed for expansion and what it could look like. Multiple 14-team models have been discussed. In one model, the so-called “3-3-2-2-1” format, the Big Ten and SEC would receive three automatic berths, compared to two for the ACC and Big 12 and one for the Group of 5, along with three at-large spots. However, other options and a more straightforward “5+9” model (five automatic qualifiers, nine at-larges) remain a possibility as well. Among the protections in the framework expected to be signed Friday include a threshold Notre Dame would need to meet to make a 14-team field, depending on how many at-large spots are available.
The idea of the Big Ten and SEC automatically receiving both byes in a 14-team model was met with backlash and is not likely to be included in a 14-team field.
College football has yet to experience a 12-team playoff, but the sport is now one step closer to agreeing on an even larger field, as revenue continues to consolidate around two conferences.
— The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Scott Dochterman and Seth Emerson contributed reporting.
(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)