CFP opens negotiation window with ESPN ahead of potential expansion to 24 teams, per report
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College Football Playoff leaders have agreed to open up a negotiating window lasting 30 days in order to discuss interest in expanding the current 12-team Playoff field to 24 teams, a dramatic change in the Playoff that could start as soon as next season.
A report by ESPN on Tuesday afternoon pointed to the CFP’s desire to potentially expand the field as quickly as 2027. While there is some question about whether this shows a real commitment by the College Football Playoff to double its field by next year, the ESPN report suggested that it indicates that the SEC and Big Ten are now in agreement that discussing the expansion is at least worth a try.
The proposed 30-day negotiating window could begin as soon as Wednesday, according to the ESPN report, so it could theoretically begin immediately. The report suggested that the opening of the negotiating window would at least determine if the expansion to 24 teams would generate enough revenue to make up for the absence of conference title games.
Expanding the Playoff to 24 teams could also bring in extra revenue to more than make up for the loss of those conference championship games.
The ESPN report on Tuesday revealed that the Power 4 conference title games are worth at least $200 million, which doesn’t even include the “tens of millions” those games generate each year in ticket sales, sponsorship deals and other revenue involving the day of the actual game.
For now, the CFP is a 12-team field, not 24, and there will be a furious push by the elite teams in the country to make that field in December. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the teams with the best chance to be playing for the national championship:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
