The College Football Playoff is exactly two weeks away from a Dec. 1 deadline, when it has to inform ESPN of any changes to its 2026 format, including expansion.

However, Front Office Sports has learned that there is potential wiggle room on that time frame—if the powers that be want it.

A source tells FOS that the CFP would need to ask ESPN to delay the deadline, and then ESPN would consider pushing it back. ESPN would not initiate that conversation, though, the source says.

Another source says there has been no discussion to this point about the CFP seeking an extension, though, as momentum for expanding beyond 12 teams has appeared to die down. If the CFP did ask for an extension, there is no guarantee ESPN would grant one.

Big Ten vs. SEC

Effectively, the expansion decision is in the hands of SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who remain at odds over what the format of an expanded CFP bracket would be. Sankey and the SEC favor more at-large spots selected by the CFP committee, while Petitti and the Big Ten are seeking more automatic qualifiers.

From 2026 onward, the SEC and Big Ten have the authority to make changes to the CFP format—and must agree on them together—according to a memorandum of understanding that the 10 FBS conferences signed in 2024.

On Saturday, Sankey said expanding the CFP to 16 teams “should be a priority for all of us in conference leadership.”

A Big Ten spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment by FOS. ESPN and the CFP declined comment.

Game Theory

Expanding the CFP from 12 to 16 teams would create four new first-round game windows that ESPN would need to find broadcast slots for.

This season, ESPN will once again sublicense two first-round matchups to TNT Sports—the 3:30 p.m. ET and 7:30 p.m. ET games on Dec. 20. ESPN and ABC will simulcast the primetime matchup on Dec. 19, and the noon ET game on Dec. 20.

After beating the CFP’s TV ratings last season, the NFL will once again provide competition Dec. 20 with a Week 16 Saturday doubleheader, Packers-Bears and Eagles-Commanders, which will air on Fox; game times have not been announced.

The 2026 CFP schedule is not set, but it’s expected to start on the same weekend in December. Adding more first-round CFP games would either mean airing multiple games in the same broadcast windows, going head-to-head with more NFL action on Thursday or Sunday, or moving games even earlier to Wednesday or Tuesday that week.

The 2026 season will mark the first of a six-year, $7.8 billion CFP media-rights extension that ESPN signed in 2024. 

Yet another wave of consolidation is approaching the television station business, with more implications for sports media. 

Sinclair Inc., owner of the Tennis Channel and 178 local stations, said Monday in a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission that it has acquired an 8.2% equity stake in fellow station owner E.W. Scripps Co. More substantively, Sinclair also said it is in active talks to acquire Scripps in full. 

The two companies “have engaged in constructive discussions for several months regarding a potential combination,” Sinclair said in the SEC filing. 

It is not certain when, or if, a full merger deal between Sinclair and Scripps will happen—though Sinclair said a deal closing could happen 9 to 12 months after reaching a definitive agreement. The ongoing talks, however, reflect the accelerating wave of consolidation happening in the station ownership business. Just three months ago, Nexstar Media Group struck a $6.2 billion deal to acquire Tegna Inc., which is still undergoing a regulatory review.

The Nexstar-Tegna deal, if completed, will create a powerful entity with 265 stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia. A Sinclair-Scripps merger would follow along very similar lines and add the 60 stations in the Scripps portfolio to what Sinclair has. 

Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr, appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, has been open about his desire to loosen current restrictions that limit individual station owners reaching more than 39% of U.S. households, calling that cap “arcane” and “artificial.” That sentiment, however, has also generated pushback from activists decrying the reduced choice in local TV news voices.

Sinclair added that a deal with Scripps would “require no external financing as the combined company would maintain each company’s respective debt and preferred capital structures. … Recent industry consolidation and intensifying competition reinforce [our] view that further scale in the broadcast television industry is essential to address secular headwinds and compete effectively with large-scale big-tech and big-media players.”

Scripps stock surged nearly 40% in Monday on the Sinclair news, ending the day $4.28 per share, the company’s highest close in more than a year. 

Sports Portfolio

Even as Main Street Sports, formerly Diamond Sports Group, is its own entity and no longer in the Sinclair umbrella, sports would remain a core element of any pact with Scripps. The Ion network owned by Scripps reached a multiyear extension of its rights deal with the WNBA this past June. 

The Scripps sports portfolio, meanwhile, also includes rights to the NWSL, the Big Sky Conference, and local rights to a series of pro teams, including the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers, the Golden Knights, the Mammoth, Lightning, and defending WNBA champion Aces. With these pacts, Scripps has been at the heart of a broader resurgence for sports in over-the-air television.

“We believe that bringing these games to linear television, putting them over the air, was going to be a great platform,” Scripps Sports president Brian Lawlor said last year at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit. “And it turned out our timing was right.”

Sinclair and Nexstar were also the two station groups that briefly pulled their distribution of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show in the wake of comments regarding the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

While the Bears are still trying to move forward off the field with their long-running stadium pursuit, the NFL team is making unexpectedly rapid progress on the field.

The Bears claimed a 19–17 walkoff win Sunday over the rival Vikings—the team’s seventh win in eight games after an 0–2 start. Chicago now leads the NFC North, arguably the league’s toughest division, by a half game over the Packers, and it’s the first time the Bears have been in that position this late in the season since 2018.

“This isn’t the same old Bears,” said Chicago safety Kevin Byard III. “This culture—we’ve been battle-tested. [We’re] never going to apologize for winning. But what I will say is that I don’t think as a team yet, we’ve discovered that killer instinct.”

A key part of the Bears’ accelerated ascendancy is their repeated ability to prevail in close games. Chicago is 3–0 in games decided by two points or fewer, and 5–1 in contests decided by five points or fewer. Additionally, the Bears have by far the NFL’s top turnover differential with a margin of plus-16.

Both games against the Packers are still on the Bears’ schedule, however. A Dec. 7 contest at Lambeau Field is currently slated for 1 p.m. ET, while a Sat., Dec. 20 rematch at Soldier Field currently doesn’t have a specified start time. Either game currently stands as a candidate for flexing into a primetime broadcast slot, given the rising playoff implications involved. A stacked back-end off the schedule for Chicago also includes other games with the Steelers, Eagles, 49ers, and Lions—all postseason contenders.

Building Matters

The competitive rebirth is happening as the Bears remain somewhat stalled on their plan to build a new domed stadium and mixed-use development on team-owned land in suburban Arlington Heights, Ill.

A revised plan now calls for the Bears to pay for the stadium costs themselves, but the team is still looking for $855 million in public-sector help for related infrastructure. An Illinois fall legislative session, however, came and went without significant progress on that front, or any resolution on a push by the Bears to be able to negotiate their own local tax rates for the Arlington Heights property. 

Franchise leaders have said that the overall stadium cost, already more than $5 billion, rises by more than $10 million per month without a final plan in place. 

Among the still-outstanding issues is the more than $534 million in remaining debt on a 2003 renovation of Soldier Field in downtown Chicago. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said the team should pay that before any legislation related to the Arlington Heights project is considered.