College Football Playoff Uncertainties Take Center Stage As Season Begins

On the eve of nearly a dozen college football kickoff games, the sport’s leaders are gathering to lay out — and maybe drastically alter — how a lucrative and expanded postseason will work in 2024 and beyond.

Conference commissioners and other key power brokers of the College Football Playoff are meeting in Dallas on Wednesday amid unprecedented realignment — a phenomena that has made top executives rethink what the 12-team playoff should look like come next season.

Originally, the expanded CFP was set to include the six highest-ranked conference champions — to ensure each of the Power Five conferences and one Group of Five school were represented — and the remaining six highest-ranked teams. This season, conferences will earn $6 million for each team they have in the playoff, a figure that could be even higher next year.

With the Pac-12 dissolving, a simple playoff change could be a move to the five highest-ranked conference champions and seven at-large entries. But it may not be that simple — at least one report claims no official vote will be taken Wednesday.

Leaders could be waiting to see where Stanford, California, Oregon State, and Washington State end up before making any final decisions.

Get Your Popcorn

This season’s CFP contests will be among 75 college football games that ESPN will broadcast from movie theaters. 

This weekend, the Virginia-Tennessee, North Carolina-South Carolina, LSU-Florida State, and Clemson-Duke matchups will be available to watch on the big screen. Financial details of ESPN’s new deal with Theater Sports Network are unknown, while ticket pricing to watch the games varies by location.