Greg Sankey discusses why 12-team Playoff favored over 8-team format
Details have emerged about how a likely 12-team College Football Playoff would play out in terms of format and scheduling.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey discussed on a media conference call on Thursday afternoon why a 12-team format was preferred over an eight-team layout.
“There is an expectation for automatic access,” Sankey said. “That doesn’t work for teams that are highly ranked… 12 is a halfway point between conference champs and highly ranked teams.”
Sankey also noted that conference champions are more likely to be left out if there’s eight teams instead of 12.
It would be a standard bracket, meaning the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game would always play the No. 1-seeded team.
It was also announced on the call that the earliest a decision could be made is September.
The news that came out earlier Thursday was that the College Football Playoff’s management committee has proposed the following expansion from four teams to 12 teams. Under this proposal, players have a 3 percent chance of making the playoff now, and it would improve to a 22 percent chance if it expands to 12 teams.
The current, four-team format is scheduled to run through the 2025 season but that could change prior to the deal expiring in 2026. Any changes to the CFP are not expected to take place before the upcoming 2021 season or the following 2022 season.
The committee’s suggested format would have the six highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next six highest-ranked other teams comprise the 12-team Playoff field.