The College Football Playoff bosses took control. As they should. Which they hadn’t done up to this point. In this case, the presidents and chancellors who ran the game were upset with their own conference commissioners who had allowed the expansion process to devolve into petty, territorial fighting.
There was plenty of money available in the CFP, just not enough opportunities. Many people talked about the nation’s second most popular sport shrinking into regional play.
The SEC has won 12 of the last 16 national championships. It soaked up the Big 12’s two best teams (Texas and Oklahoma) in what became a movement about movement. The Big Ten followed suit, capturing USC and UCLA from the Pac-12.
Consolidation. Never in the history of the game have the best brands and programs of the game been concentrated in such small spaces (two conferences at the top of the game). The SEC and Big Ten not only monopolized the money, the viewers and the talent, they monopolized the game.
In the end, it wasn’t good. In the end, the presidents decided that all was not good enough.
Those 11 CFP presidents acted decisively Friday by voting unanimously to expand the four-team group to 12 teams starting in 2026 at the latest. They did what the commissioners failed to do: agree.
“What motivated the presidents, myself included, is that we need to have an opportunity for more participation in our nation’s national championship tournament,” said CFP Board of Managers Chairman Mark Keenum, president of Mississippi State. “With only four teams, we felt it wasn’t fair to our student-athletes.”
It was also not fair to the fans that the commissioners continued to drag out the process. Four of the five Power Five commissioner positions have had new nameplates since 2020. Three of them — the ACC’s Jim Phillips, the Pac-12’s George Kliavkoff, the Big Ten’s Kevin Warren — put their stakes in the ground and voted “no” on expansion in January because they was concerned about the SEC’s growing influence.
Then Warren put the Big Ten on its own expensive island with a monster TV deal that left everyone further behind. With the “alliance” dissolved after the Big Ten went after two Pac-12 powers, it became easy to change the remaining no votes as the big boys threatened to keep it at the field of four.
The strength of the NCAA Tournament is its national appeal. With 68 spots and automatic qualifiers entering the final week of the regular season, the entire country encompasses and sprinkles in Cinderella teams that can make deep runs. The CFP needed national appeal.
The presidents decided the game could not withstand the riches (concentrated in two conferences), realignment and relegation by the rest of the nation’s college football. The West Coast was excluded (largely the Pac-12’s own fault). Half the sport (Group of Five) was a virtual afterthought. There had been enough secret knee pads stealing from teams, commissar crimes from peers.
Revenue sharing is coming. Maybe even a union. Name, image and likeness already rule the sport. The audience didn’t understand. The CEOs got tired of it.
“There’s the [Power Two] and everybody else,” AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said, referring to the SEC and Big Ten. “It is clear.”
If the presidents didn’t slow it down and create more playoff access, Congress might have started to sniff out a monopoly. So, here we are with three times as many teams in the national championship. The playoffs themselves go from three games to 11.
For the first time, FBS postseason games will be played on campus. The once-threatened Rose Bowl seems to fit nicely into the 12-team field. God bless former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who long ago predicted that with 12 teams, there would still be 30-35 teams competing for a playoff spot at the beginning of each November, as opposed to a third of that number or less .
It increases interest. It unites a country. It was time for college football to come together.
“It reinforces the value of the entire regular season,” Keenum said. “I have full confidence in our commissioners working together. I think they needed some guidance from the board. Now they have it.”
Here’s how expanding the CFP field to 12 teams is changing the future of the sport.
Revenue distribution
This is the second biggest task for conference commissioners and university presidents to tackle, multiple sources told CBS Sports. Read also : Five things to watch in the five weeks leading up to the MLB playoffs. It must be determined what fair compensation looks like for the conferences, a task last undertaken when the CFP started in 2014.
Basically, whatever weight the SEC and Big Ten throw around the room will be a big factor. In expansion, these conferences exchange money for access. They get their money, but the remaining eight conferences get a better shot at the playoffs. It will be the first.
This access—tripling the field—keeps the authorities away from collusion or antitrust charges from the smaller conferences. The minor leagues now have more access than ever. That in itself stifles any talk of monopoly.
“Playoffs are key,” Aresco said. “If you have access to that, I think you’ll stay relevant. Your donors will care. Your fans will care. The schools will make the investment because they have a chance to compete. … That’s going to be the key to everything. “
In 2021, the Power Five conferences each received $74 million annually from the CFP for, well, being Power Five conferences. The Group of Five shared $95 million, about 20% of the total annual net distribution. When the CFP was formed, that percentage was initially agreed upon as a number that would prevent the group of five from suing. With access from four to 12, it amplifies the unlikely possibilities of legal action.
Moving forward, here’s an educated guess about the future distribution, assuming a doubling of the annual revenue brought in by the CFP from $600 million (four tiers) to $1.2 billion per year (12):
These estimates do not include deductions for income distribution to FBS independents, FCS and NCAA Divisions II and III.
Two-loss factor
Minnesota in 1960 and LSU in 2007 remain the only two-loss teams to win national championships. On the same subject : Convenience Assessments: Measuring the conference value of each Power 5 school. That’s it. In the game’s history.
In expansion, there will regularly be teams with two losses – even three losses – in the playoff field. At that point, it could become a situation of who is hot at the end of the season, not who is necessarily the best all year. How does that sound? You guessed it, March Madness.
Using last year’s CFP rankings to see a bracket, seven of the 12 teams would have been in the playoffs with at least two losses, including Big 12 champion Baylor (11-2) in the top four! Utah (10-3) would have entered as the Pac-12 champion.
Still, you’re way ahead of things if you’ve assumed that two-loss teams from the SEC and Big Ten will be favored. This is how a 12-team group would look based on last season:
Byes (highest ranked conference champions)1. Alabama (12-1)2. Michigan (12-1)3. Cincinnati (12-0)4. Baylor (11-2)
First round game No. 12 Pittsburgh (11-2)* at No. 5 Georgia (12-1) — winner vs. No. 4 BaylorNo. 11 Utah (10-3)* at No. 6 Notre Dame (11-1) — winner vs. No. 3 CincinnatiNo. 10 Michigan State (10-2) at No. 7 Ohio State (10-2) — winner vs. No. 2 MichiganNo. 9 Oklahoma State (11-1) at No. 8 Ole Miss (10-2) — winner vs. No. 1 Alabama
Will realignment slow?
That remains to be determined. Realignment certainly got the presidents motivated for the good of the game. This change comes as Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren continues to push his university presidents to add four more teams from the Pac-12. See the article : Title IX 50th Anniversary: How the Law Has Changed American Sport. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has declared his conference “open for business.” ESPN and Fox have interests in what the Big 12 and Pac-12 look like in the future.
Finally, more emphasis will be placed on conference success determined by how many teams a league can have in the 12. Simple math will tell you: The more quality teams a league has overall, the better.
Plug that philosophy into realignment, and the Big 12 and Pac-12 increasing their membership makes perfect sense.
Cinderella factor
Major-college football almost never had that. The Cinderella charm that brings “madness” to the NCAA Tournament has been missing in the game’s history. There has been a huge hole in college football. Same old same old. The stretch between BYU winning in 1984 and Cincinnati making the CFP in 2021 was 37 years. That’s it. That’s your list of glass slippers in gaming history.
The possibilities in a 12-team field will be there annually for non-traditional types. If expansion were in place in 2021, first-round matchups would include Utah, Oklahoma State and Ole Miss. No. 13 BYU would have finished just outside the playoffs.
It’s not exactly Saint Peter beating Kentucky in hoops, but the possibility of legitimate upsets exists now. Wait for a couple of shocks that ignite the whole nation. In the end, the best teams will probably rise to the top — as they do in the Final Four — but it’s all about access. College football will be a better product.
Job security
Somehow coaches will be more protected. There have been mid-major basketball coaches able to keep their jobs for 20 years by being able to hang five banners celebrating just making the NCAA Tournament.
Those participation trophies are now coming into play in college football. A Sun Belt team coming in will be able to sustain this coach, program and conference for years. If an AAC team makes a run, same thing. Even Power Five buses could get longer leashes. If a 12-team playoff had existed from the beginning, Florida would have made the field three years in a row from 2018-20. Would Dan Mullen still be on the sidelines instead of behind a desk at ESPN?
A banner reading “College Football Playoff Participant” will be gold in some outposts. The idea was to open America’s Game to America. The presidents took responsibility. It just took a while.
Is Pac-12 Networks free?
SAN FRANCISCO – Pac-12 Networks has announced the launch of Pac-12 Insider, its free broadband streaming channel, on “Sports on Tubi,” the newly launched streaming sports destination from Tubi and FOX Sports.
Do you have to pay for the Pac-12 now? You can stream the Pac-12 Network with a live TV streaming service. No cable or satellite subscription is required. Start watching with a free trial.
Is the Pac-12 channel free?
Pac-12 Network is only included in the Sports Extra package when purchased with the “Orange†plan, which is an additional $11. If you choose the “Blue” plan, the Pac-12 Network is not included in the Sports Extra add-on.
How can I watch Pac-12 Networks?
How to Stream Pac-12 Network. The Pac-12 Network is available on fuboTV, Sling TV and Vidgo. These live TV streaming services work on smart TVs, Google Chromecast with Google TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, PCs and smartphones.
How do I get the Pac-12 Network for free?
You don’t need cable to watch The Pac-12 Network. You can watch the Pac-12 Network through one of the following streaming services: Sling TV, fuboTV and Vidgo. The network features games from the Pac-12 Conference and original programming that highlights what’s happening at these universities.
Who voted Nebraska out of AAU?
Many members of the Nebraska Board of Regents as well as the administration, faculty and staff felt that a vendetta was indeed in order. While the AAU does not release voter specifics (as a private organization), 44 votes were cast during the voting period in support of the resolution to force Nebraska out.
How did Nebraska lose its AAU status? But speculation still abounds in many Nebraska newspaper reports that AAU President Robert Berdahl and several AAU member presidents wanted Nebraska expelled because of the spat over the move from the Big 12 to the Big Ten.
Why was Nebraska expelled from AAU?
But not anymore. The AAU recently voted to end Nebraska’s membership in the organization after the school failed to meet certain requirements. Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman sent an email to faculty and staff Friday to inform them of the vote.
When did Nebraska leave the AAU?
In general, Nebraska has not had problems with research or hiring since he left the organization in 2011, he said. But he said the long-term effect is hard to measure: There may be some people, most likely connected to the AAU, who think less of the university for not being a member.
Who voted to remove Nebraska from AAU?
According to the association’s rules, a two-thirds majority – 42 votes – is required to remove a member; 44 voted against Nebraska. The university, the flagship of the state, had several factors working against it.
How would a 12-team college playoff work?
How will a 12-team College Football Playoff work? The CFP says the 12-team field will consist of the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large teams. The playoff committee will continue to select and rank these teams as they do now.
What is the new College Football Playoff format? Who’s Playing: The 12 teams will include the six highest-ranked conference champions and the six highest-ranked non-conference champions. The top four will be seeded No. 1 through No. 4 and will receive a first-round bye. The remaining eight teams will compete in the first round.
How many teams can make the college playoffs?
The College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams after the board approved the expansion by unanimous vote on Friday, the group that oversees the postseason system announced.
Will there be 12 teams in the college football playoffs?
The university presidents who oversee the College Football Playoff voted Friday to expand the postseason model to determine a national champion from four to 12 teams no later than the 2026 season.
How many schools are in the Big 10?
The Big 10 is the oldest Division 1 collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Despite its name, the conference is actually comprised of 14 world-class research universities known for their strong academics, competitive D1 athletics and boisterous school spirit.
How many colleges are in the Big 10? Since then, the Big Ten has grown to include four more institutions, for a total of 14. The Big Ten universities are the universities of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, along with Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Rutgers.
Why are they called Big 10 schools?
The conference uses the “B1G” character combination in its branding, noting that it “allows fans to see ‘BIG’ and ’10’ in a single word.” Big Ten member institutions are predominantly large flagship research universities that have large financial resources and are well regarded academically.
How many schools are in the Big 12?
The Big 12 Conference is a ten-school collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas.
