A four-person working group of the CFP management committee introduced a 12-team playoff format proposal, the CFP announced Thursday. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
After seven years of a four-team College Football Playoff, the wheels may be turning on an expansion.
A four-person working group of the CFP management committee introduced a 12-team playoff format proposal, the CFP announced Thursday.
“The four-team format has been very popular and is a big success,” the members of the four-person sub-committee said in a release. “But it’s important that we consider the opportunity for more teams and more student-athletes to participate in the playoff. After reviewing numerous options, we believe this proposal is the best option to increase participation, enhance the regular season and grow the national excitement of college football.”
The proposal would include the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large teams to round out the 12-team bracket, which wouldn’t include auto-bids nor limit to the number of participants from a particular conference. The top four-ranked teams would earn an opening round bye, while the remaining eight teams would play each other on the home fields of the higher ranked team.
The 11-member CFP management committee will review the proposal at an upcoming meeting June 17-18. If the management committee approves of the proposal or of a variant playoff model, it will then go to the CFP board of managers who will meet June 22, the release stated.
The board of managers will not make the decision to implement the model in the June 22 meeting but will take the summer to assess the model and reconvene in September.
Any tweaks or implementation of a new format to the CFP will not take place this year or next, Executive Director of the CFP Bill Hancock said in the release. The current CFP format is in place through the 2025-26 season.
The four-person sub-committee included Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick.
