Power 4 Conferences Keep Pushing Different CFP Plans, Stalling Change

The future of the College Football Playoff will be in the spotlight this week, as the ACC and Big Ten host preseason media days—although there is not expected to be any movement toward reaching a consensus for expansion in 2026.

When ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and his Big Ten counterpart Tony Petitti take their respective stages in Charlotte and Las Vegas on Tuesday, they are each expected to reiterate their preferences for differing CFP formats, should it expand to 16 teams next year. 

There is a Dec. 1 deadline for the CFP management committee—made up of FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua—to green-light expansion, but details of a new format are holding that up.

Power 4 Push

Phillips has previously been supportive of the 5+11 format that Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark “doubled down” on at his conference’s media days earlier this month. That model would continue to see the five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic CFP bids, with the selection committee awarding 11 spots, instead of the seven it does in the current 12-team format.

However, Petitti has pushed for a more complex system that would award four automatic bids to each of the Big Ten and SEC, two to the ACC and Big 12, one to the highest-ranked non–Power 4 Conference champion, and three at-large bids.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wouldn’t commit to supporting a singular format for an expanded CFP last week at his conference’s media days, although he admitted the Big Ten “has a different view,” which he said was “fine.”

Sankey even said the current 12-team format “could stay if we can’t agree” on a new one before the Dec. 1 deadline.

With the college football regular season just over a month away, debate about the future of the CFP is likely to bleed into game action this fall.