College Football Playoff to discuss potential 24-team expansion with ESPN

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The College Football Playoff announced Tuesday that it will open discussions with broadcast partner ESPN about potentially doubling the tournament to 24 teams.

“The CFP has decided to move forward in its evaluation of potential playoff expansion to 24 teams by beginning a media rights discussion with ESPN,” the CFP said. “This does not represent a decision or commitment to expand, but rather an opportunity to engage with ESPN and gather additional information to help determine a path forward.”

The CFP deal that starts this season with ESPN is worth $7.8 billion over six seasons. That network would have first dibs on the first two games added to any package but the rest would be up for grabs. Fox has indicated it likes the 24-team idea, but embedded within that equation is the calculation of how much any broadcast partner would pay for a new set of games involving teams that might not garner the same ratings.

The CFP has been studying the impact of expanding the playoff from 12 to 16 or 24 teams for months amid concerns about venues, the overall college football schedule and the future of conference title games.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey has lobbied for 16 teams, while Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference leaders back a 24-team scenario that the Big Ten first put forward and still supports.

A 24-team playoff would eliminate automatic qualifiers and render conference title games — whose estimated worth are some $200 million to the Power Four leagues — virtually meaningless. But supporters say it would give all programs more access to the playoff.

The playoff expanded from four to 12 teams in 2024, but after executives failed to reach an expansion agreement, the CFP will use the same model for the 2026-27 season.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football