A potential 16-team College Football Playoff bracket has “growing” Big Ten and SEC support after an in-person meeting, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported. Power conference commissioners met Thursday in New York, and future CFP formats were part of the discussions.
The 16-team bracket would include four automatic bids for each of the SEC and Big Ten, according to Dellenger. The ACC and Big 12 would get two spots each, while the Group of 6 would get one. There would also be three at-large spots.
In addition, as Dellenger previously reported, “inner-league play-in games” could also be in the cards at the end of the year. That would put the third-place team in a conference against the sixth-place team, as well as the fourth-place team against fifth-place.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel also reported the focus is on a 16-team College Football Playoff, which would begin in 2026. That’s when the current agreement with ESPN ends, although an extension will also kick in at the end of the deal.
“I would say that 16 is becoming more preferred,” a source told Thamel. “It seems like 16 may be the preferred number, but there’s no format decision.”
No decisions were made Thursday, but one could come in the next couple months. Both the Big Ten and SEC – which play central roles in deciding the College Football Playoff’s future – hold their annual spring meetings this month. Potential CFP changes are also expected to impact the SEC’s conversations about a possible nine-game schedule, which is also set to be discussed in Destin.
The 2024 season marked the first of the 12-team College Football Playoff, which included games at campus sites and byes for the four highest-ranked conference champions. But with one year of the new format in the books, conversation started about whether it could change in the coming years. CFP executive director Rich Clark said commissioners have explored “ideas” for future formats in previous meetings.
In March, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark expressed his support for the current 12-team CFP. But when it comes to automatic qualifiers, he warned of a potential “artificial championship.”
“I like the 12-team format. I love it,” Yormark said. “Whether we go to 14 or expand the field, I don’t know, and obviously it’ll be a decision amongst the management committee. As it relates to the AQs, and I’ve been on the record saying this, I don’t want an artificial championship. I want people to earn their way in. I don’t want it being predetermined.
“That being said, I’m open to discussion. I want to weigh the pros and cons of lots of different scenarios. Then, as a collective group, make a decision on what’s right for college football.”
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