The SEC and Big Ten commissioners are meeting on Wednesday to discuss changes the two conferences would like to see to the College Football Playoffs. In 2024, the CFP included 12 teams for the very first time, however, the power-house conferences are already looking to shake things up.
According to Yahoo Sports, the SEC and Big Ten are proposing a 14 or possibly 16-team CFP that would give them each four automatic qualifiers. “Two each to the ACC and Big 12; and one to the highest-ranked Group of Five champion.”
There are more CFP meetings expected to take place later this month as well, as any changes to the current CFP structure would require a unanimous vote by all stakeholders, and any official changes face a May deadline for approval.
Related: CFP/ESPN Agree to 6-Year Extension Worth $1.3B Per Year
According to Sports Illustrated, “a complete consensus has to be made among the 10 FBS conferences and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish leadership. Should just one league object to any potential tweaks, we will essentially see the same version of the CFP we did this past season.”
Because of the CFP’s media partnership with ESPN, affected teams can be assured that the number of teams involved in the playoffs will not decrease. The only way to go is up. On top of the number of teams in the playoffs, SEC and Big Ten commissioners also plan to discuss the method for determining the field. If they truly seek to expand the number of automatic qualifiers that each conference receives, changes would have to be made to the selection process.
When discussing possible changes to the playoffs, CFP executive director Rich Clark told Sports Illustrated, “It depends on what those changes are, if any, as far as when we would implement them. I would say it’s possible, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not. There are probably some things that could happen in short order, like tweaks to the 2025 season, but we haven’t determined that.”
