University presidents are taking matters of College Football Playoff expansion into their own hands.
At a scheduled virtual meeting Friday, the CFP’s highest-ranking governing body, the Board of Governors, is expected to chart the next direction in playoff expansion by potentially holding a vote that, if unanimous, could pave the way for expansion as early as 2024, sources told Sports Illustrated.
The 11-member board of directors, which consists of a presidential representative from each FBS conference and Notre Dame, exercises its authority over the expansion process that failed miserably last spring when conference members could not agree on a format. The presidents, many of them frustrated by the trustees’ futile attempts to expand, spent several months seriously debating the expansion proposals and reached what many consider a crescendo moment.
Will we see a 12-team playoff in the future?
A vote is possible on the expansion model that could shape the next evolution of the college football postseason, though the details of the new format will likely be left to the commissioners to decide. Despite the growing appeal of a 16-team field, the 12-team model remains the favorite as commissioners spent a year examining and vetting the proposal. They are believed to be close to agreeing on several outstanding concepts.
Voting is just as important as format. The CFP is in the final four years of a contract with ESPN that expires after the playoffs in 2025. An extension before the contract expires requires a unanimous vote. The board — 10 members from FBS and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick — couldn’t come to a unanimous decision after an exhaustive 10-month negotiation that included public banter, hurt feelings and, ultimately, the measure 8–3 in February. The Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 voted against the proposal, but have recently shown renewed interest in supporting the expansion model.
An extension before the contract expires would not only provide 16 additional playoff spots during 2024 and 2025, but, as SI reported last fall, would also generate an additional $450 million in gross revenue over those two years.
The unanimous vote could set off a chaotic few weeks, both for CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock’s organization and for commissioners. CFP staff and commissioners will be tasked with finalizing format details and exploring whether an expansion is feasible before the contract expires.
Given the recent history of stalled negotiations and the complexity of the issue, one senior CFP official warned, “Nothing is done until it’s done.” Another source said there was no guarantee a unanimous vote would mean an extension before the contract expires.
There are many obstacles, starting with logistics. The current small operation of three games (semi-finals + championship) would almost quadruple to 11 games, with just 27 months head start. The original deadline for early expansion was nine months ago.
In fact, the CFP recently announced the dates and locations of the 2024 and ’25 championship games, Atlanta and Miami, respectively. In any expanded playoff model, the championship game will be pushed back at least a week, to mid-January. New pages and new dates may be required.
Hancock declined comment when reached earlier Wednesday.
One of the more pressing issues involves ESPN. The network owns the rights to the 2024 and ’25 Playoffs, a bugaboo for many commissioners who want to see more networks own parts of the Playoffs. Although ESPN has indicated a willingness to compromise, the nature of those talks is unclear.
In retrospect, none of this is too surprising. A few months ago, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff suggested the presidents could determine the playoff format for 2026 and beyond and potentially “revert” to implementing that model in ’24. and ’25.
“When you do that and by definition, because it’s going to expand, it gives more access to everybody, I think you could then go back to the people who weren’t part of the group that came up with the new proposal and say, ‘We’d also like to start that in 24, not at 26.’ Everyone would say, ‘We’re fine. with that,” Kliavkoff said in December during an interview in Las Vegas.
If the vote isn’t unanimous, the expansion would begin in 2026, and the new Playoff would hit the market after the exclusive negotiating period with ESPN expires in Oct. 24.
There is also a third option for presidents. There was nothing they could do. However, he is growing optimistic about reaching a resolution and then handing over decisions on format details to trustees.
The commissioners and Swarbrick will meet next week in Dallas for a previously scheduled meeting. It will be their first meeting since two significant events took place this summer: UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten; and the hiring of Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark.
Vote or not, commission members will likely receive orders from the president to compromise on several key topics, such as (1) how revenue will be distributed in an expanded playoff; (2) the role of the Rose Bowl, a key point during the previous year of negotiations; and (3) how automatic qualifiers are used.
A subdivision of commissioners spent two years narrowing down more than 60 expansion models to a single 12-team format that was unveiled last summer. In the model, the six highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic berths, while the next six highest-ranked teams receive at-large bids. The four top-ranked conference champions receive a first-round bye. The first round is played on campus, while the quarterfinals and semifinals are held in a six-ball rotation.
Each of the three Alliance conferences had public and private reasons for voting against the format. Both the Big Ten and the ACC have expressed interest in each Power 5 champion receiving an automatic berth. Before voting to expand, the ACC also wanted to address the myriad off-field issues that encompass college football, particularly the 365-day football calendar.
The problems with the Pac-12 weren’t with the actual format, but with other things. They ranged from a revenue sharing model to the incorporation of the Rose Bowl, which wants to stay in its traditional date and time.
The three leagues appeared to relax their position, probably the product of different circumstances. For one thing, the Alliance, torpedoed by the Big Ten’s acquisition of USC and UCLA this summer, is not expected to continue in its original form. Second, the Big Ten has now finished its multibillion-dollar television deal, which some believe was a break in its expansion position.
The ACC, meanwhile, led a months-long trial of creating a new 365-day football calendar, potentially solving its biggest problem with expansion. In the West, the Pac-12 needs expansion more than any other major conference.
Watch College Football Live with fuboTV: Start Your Free Trial Today!
• SI Experts Predict Playoffs, Heisman & More• Thursday Week 1 College Football Odds & Bets• If the Power 5 became a Power 3, who would be in it?
A subgroup of four CFP board members announced in June that they had developed a 12-team format. That format would allow the top six conference champions to earn spots regardless of what conference they are in.
How much do D1 football coaches make?
The average salary for a coach in D1 is $2.7 million. D1 in college football is a division that usually has the most desirable schools playing for them. See the article : USA and Honduras secure U20 World Cup berths. That’s because they have college football power five conferences like the Big Ten or Pac12, with top schools like UCLA or Penn State.
How much do D1 assistant football coaches make? According to USA TODAY Sports‘ annual Coach Compensation Review, SEC assistants at public schools averaged nearly $605,000 in total compensation this year.
How much do college coaches make D1?
Trainers can earn extra money through championship bonuses and more. The median D1 head coaching salary for the nation’s top 5 programs is $315,400, according to the CSCAA report. The report determined the median salary across the top 100 D1 programs.
How much does a D1 head football coach make?
The average salary for an NFL head coach is $6. On the same subject : NCAA announces format changes for women’s basketball tournament.692 million, while the average college football compensation for 108 NCAA I coaches is $1.75 million.
Who is the highest-paid Division 1 football coach?
| Rank | Coach | Salary 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kirby Smart | 10.25 million dollars |
| 2. | Lincoln Riley | $10 million* |
| 3. | Nick Saban | 9.9 million dollars |
| T-4. | Brian Kelly | 9.5 million dollars |
Does college football make more money than NFL?
Does college football bring in more than the NFL? The NFL generates far more annual revenue than its major college counterparts, amounting to approximately $16 billion last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. See the article : The 7 Highest Paid Broadcasters in Sport.
How much do colleges make from football? The biggest revenue generator among college sports is no surprise: It’s football. College football brings in an average of $31.9 million per school annually, according to financial website Zacks.com.
How much is college football worth as an industry?
The U.S. Department of Education says the U.S. college sports industry is valued at $14.4 billion, including broadcast rights, merchandise and ticket sales.
Who makes more money college football or the NFL?
NCAA football teams made more money than many NFL teams in 2015 [INFOGRAPHIC] – uCribs.
Why the college football playoffs should expand?
We look at five advantages to growing the playoff field. In the interest of clarity: The biggest reason is the greater financial incentive. Although the increased revenue stream is valuable, especially as 2020 shows, your focus is on reasons that would improve the sport from season to season.
Will they ever expand the College Football Playoff? College Football Playoff expansion appears to be back on the schedule as the 2022 season approaches. Until now, the CFP format was expected to expand from four to 12 teams, but now the power brokers in the room are pushing for even more.
Why the playoff needs to be expanded?
Expansion means more meaningful games and fewer dropouts. More so in 2021 than in any other bowl season, we’ve seen players announce their intention to sit out of non-playoff games. Therefore, by adding more playoff games, fewer players would drop out of these suddenly relevant games.
Why we should expand the College Football Playoff?
If the field is expanded to eight teams, it would allow the champions of the top five leagues to qualify automatically, along with the big three teams. That, in turn, could end some of the anxiety about âSEC bias by opening the door for more qualifiers from the three leagues.
Will college football playoffs expand to 8 teams?
After months of long debate and multiple expansion meetings, the College Football Playoff will remain at four teams through the end of its current 12-year contract, which expires after the 2025 season, CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock announced Friday.
