Bill Hancock explains how ESPN factors into Playoff expansion talks
By Keith Farner
Published:
Bill Hancock shed light on TV rights factors as they relate to the College Football Playoff, and explained on Wednesday that ESPN would still have rights for first round and quarterfinal games in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
This came after 2 days of meetings near Chicago with the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick. The group has not yet decided if the Playoff can expand to 12 teams as soon as 2024, Heather Dinich of ESPN reported.
Scheduling is still an issue, as Hancock said New Year’s Day will be preserved for college football, but the number of games that day is still to be determined. However, moving the season up to Week 0 is off the table for 2024-25 and 2025-26, so the week of New Year’s would be for quarterfinal and not semifinal games.
Bill Hancock says ESPN would still have the rights for first round and quarterfinal games in 2024-25 and 2025-26, should the CFP expand before the expiration of the current deal.
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) September 28, 2022
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
