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The College Football Playoff is set to expand to twelve teams for the 2024 season, marking a huge change from the current four-team playoff. But, more expansion could be coming very soon.
Conference realignment has left college football nearly unrecognizable, putting the balance of power firmly with the Big Ten and SEC. Now, those two are leading a push to change the College Football Playoff once more starting in the 2026 season.
On Wednesday, Ross Dellenger reported on some of the changes that could be coming. He talked about a potential 14-team playoff starting in 2026.
In that format, Dellenger reported that the current talk suggests that it would feature plenty of automatic berths given out to conferences. In fact, he reported that there would be three given to the Big Ten and SEC, and two each to the Big 12 and ACC. Plus, the remaining conferences would get at least one team in the playoff between them, just like they will in the format in place for 2024 and 2025.
But, how would the byes be handed out? Dellenger reports that the Big Ten and SEC would get preferential treatment when it comes to byes.
Champions of the SEC and Big Ten would hold exclusive rights on the two first-round byes, according to one version circulated to several college athletic administrators. The version has not been finalized and is only being socialized before more exploratory work on the format, those with knowledge of the model told Yahoo Sports.
Such a concept — guaranteed byes for the Big Ten and SEC — is an unusual but somewhat expected maneuver from college football’s goliaths. It’s also a move that has garnered pushback from administrators outside of those two conferences.
I totally get why the other conferences would scoff at this kind of preferential treatment for the Big Ten and SEC in the College Football Playoff. On the other hand, after conference realignment is finally finished in a few years, possibly the top twenty brands in the sports will all be in the SEC and Big Ten. They could start their own College Football Playoff and make nearly as much money as one with everyone included. And, in that scenario, they wouldn’t have to share the money with other, less powerful conferences.
For a lot of reasons, the Big Ten and SEC don’t want to go down the road of having their own exclusive playoff. But, they may be floating that possibility as a bargaining chip.