AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — At about 5 p.m. on Monday, just as annual ACC spring meetings began here on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, a Pennsylvania congressman made a splash.
Rep. Brendan Boyle opened his social media account, typed out a message and sent into the ether a sizzling shot at the SEC and Big Ten for their attempt to manipulate the future of the College Football Playoff format.
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“The next time the Big Ten or SEC wants to meet with me about NIL, they need to be prepared to first explain to me how they justify trying to rig the CFP,” Boyle tweeted.
He added one more word — a hashtag — at the end of the message: Greed.
There is a litany of prevailing issues festering within the college sports industry. The unresolved antitrust settlement that would usher in athlete revenue-sharing; a presidential commission exploring college sports; and a battle over NCAA governance, just to name a few.
But another looms: The fight over the future of the football postseason — the industry’s most valuable product.
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That fight, it appears, is getting messy.
Negotiations among the four power conference commissioners — they have started meeting separately from other CFP leaders — have produced disagreement. Discord lingers over the amount of automatic qualifiers designated for each conference.
In fact, from ACC spring meetings, conference executives discussed postseason format with their athletic directors and their coaches, sharing with them the latest negotiations between the Big 12, ACC, Big Ten and SEC. And though most here declined to reveal specifics, they did share their opinion on a 16-team playoff proposal from the SEC and Big Ten that would award each of those two conferences twice as many automatic qualifiers (4) as the Big 12 and ACC (2).
“No one likes it,” says one athletic director.
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Coaches as well spoke against it, recommending to athletic administrators on Tuesday that they push for the ACC to get three automatic qualifiers.
“We are fighting for our spots,” NC State head coach Dave Doeren told Yahoo Sports. “We believe we deserve three [automatic qualifiers] as a minimum.”
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips hasn’t been a proponent of the new CFP models presented by the Big Ten and SEC. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)
(USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
The long-discussed “4-4-2-2-1” format grants four automatic berths to each the Big Ten and SEC, two each to the ACC and Big 12, one to the highest-ranked Group of Six conference champion and, potentially, as many as three at-large bids in a 16-team field.
The divide among the four leagues doesn’t exist in the number of teams. There seems to be consensus in moving from 12 to 16 starting with the 2026 playoff (the 2025 playoff is set at 12). However, the rub is with the number of automatic qualifying spots for each conference. Leaders at the Big 12 and ACC want more than just two automatic spots.
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“I remain steadfast about fairness in the system and access,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said Wednesday as spring meetings ended. “Out of respect from my colleagues, I want to hold off on commenting about AQs and specific models.”
The power conference commissioners are expected to meet again soon, he said.
Big 12 and ACC officials are expected to propose alternate models to the Big Ten and SEC, the two conferences that hold authority over a format starting in 2026 — power given to them by all 10 FBS conferences last spring by the signing of a memorandum of understanding to extend the CFP television deal with ESPN through 2031.
Several alternate models were discussed with ACC athletic directors this week, including a variety of formats that get them a third automatic qualifier spot, perhaps even if that spot is conditional on the selection committee’s rankings. But there are issues with such from those in the SEC and Big Ten. Any “4-4-3-3-1” model or a “4-4-3-2-1” model reduces the at-large pool from three to as little as one. That one would presumably be designated for Notre Dame if the Irish finish inside the top 16. The Irish are protected as part of the memorandum signed last spring.
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Contacted by Yahoo Sports on Wednesday, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark declined comment on any new proposals. Meanwhile, some here at ACC spring meetings expressed their frustration over any format that pre-determines automatic qualifiers.
“Granting spots,” said Miami coach Mario Cristobal, “that makes zero sense. Football has never been about gifting. It’s about earning.”
At a meeting of the four power conference commissioners in New York City last week, commissioners from the Big Ten and SEC solidified their preference for the long-discussed 16-team 4-4-2-2-1 model. It’s been a long time coming.
Last spring, during negotiations to extend the CFP contract with ESPN, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti originally proposed a similar format — then a 3-3-2-2-1 — that was roundly rejected. A year later, after two joint meetings between SEC and Big Ten athletic directors, administrators in each league have encouraged their leadership to move to four automatic qualifiers.
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It’s become a divisive issue among some of the most powerful executives in the sport.
The ACC and Big 12 are not alone in their pushback to the format. Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, one of 11 members of the CFP governance board with the 10 FBS commissioners, has spoken against the format within meetings, those with knowledge of the discussions tell Yahoo Sports.
Bevacqua declined comment this week from ACC spring meetings.
The coaches did not.
“I think you should earn your way in,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “It comes down to the image of the Big Ten and SEC and where they are, and there’s a lack of respect for the ACC. I don’t like it.”
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Said North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham: “I don’t understand why you’d ask for a guaranteed spot other than one automatic for conference champions.”
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee used a basketball analogy, citing the SEC’s record of 14 teams in the NCAA tournament this past year.
“If we guaranteed spots based on the past … just look at basketball the last five years,” Lashlee said. “Six years ago or so, SEC gets three or four teams in. And now this year they get a record. But if this year’s NCAA tournament was predicted on five years ago, 10 of their schools would have been left out. It’s kind of hard to limit the future based on the past.”
The political pressure and public backlash on leaders in the Big Ten and SEC may be mounting. Boyle’s tweet, one of the first public criticisms from a congressional lawmaker, is unlikely to be the last.
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In fact, Cody Campbell, the leader of a newly minted and yet-to-be announced presidential commission, is a Big 12 supporter and sits on the league’s alumni council. The billionaire businessman is the chair of the Texas Tech Board of Regents, is a friend to Yormark and has a direct line to President Donald Trump.
Whether Campbell or the commission gets involved in the playoff discussions remains unclear. One person close to Campbell told Yahoo Sports that he is not in favor of the Big Ten and SEC’s proposed format.
Any proposed 16-team format would begin in 2026.
However, if agreement is reached on a format for 2026 and beyond, it may pave the way to move to what’s termed a “straight seeding” format for the 2025 playoff — a 12-team bracket that, for now, designates the top four seeds to the highest-ranked conference champions. Under straight seeding, teams are slotted directly based on the selection committee’s rankings.
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Phillips said on Wednesday that he’s open to moving to straight seeding, saying it is the “right thing” to do.
But next year could bring much more change to college football’s postseason if a new format is finalized.
A 16-team bracket could necessitate a schedule shuffle of playoff games in December. Under a proposed idea, two play-in games would be played the second weekend of December, when Army-Navy traditionally meet and when no NFL games are scheduled. Winners of those play-in games — No. 13 seed hosting the No. 16 seed and the No. 14 hosting the No. 15 — would advance to a bracket of 10 awaiting teams. The top two seeds in the CFP would earn a bye into the quarterfinals on New Year’s Day. The double bye would be designated for those winning conference championship games.
Perhaps one of the more fascinating aspects of the proposed format is the ability for conferences to play season-ending, conference-tournament style play-in matchups where the Big Ten and SEC pit their third, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-placed teams against one another.
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Teams finishing No. 3 would host No. 6 and Nos. 4 would host No. 5 in on-campus games during conference championship weekend — not a new concept and one Yahoo Sports reported about in December. In the ACC and Big 12, if they were to receive two auto-bids, they would need to determine if they would schedule any play-in games.
There is an issue in adding any play-in games, however. The NCAA’s rule on the number of regular season games — 12 — must be changed.
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