The Big Ten and SEC’s “forced transformation of the College Football Playoff into an invitational is not inevitable” due to “several possible obstacles the leagues could face beyond just the objections of their colleagues,” according to Russo & Vannini of THE ATHLETIC. An expansion of the postseason to include automatic bids “weighted in favor of the Big Ten and SEC could draw legal and political scrutiny — to go along with already mounting public backlash” — if the two conferences “try to force through a new format without any support from other leagues.” It is “hard to gauge how much appetite there would be within the group to start filing lawsuits against each other.” But whether any legal challenge to the CFP agreement between the conferences would ultimately be successful “is almost inconsequential,” as the “simple filing of a lawsuit in a receptive home court could be enough to bog down the process and create CFP stagnation and uncertainty.” College sports leaders also are not looking to “risk alienating federal lawmakers.” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti have been “among the many who have been lobbying legislators in Washington for a bill that will allow the NCAA and conferences to effectively regulate college sports, overriding myriad state laws and providing some antitrust protections.” ESPN’s influence over the CFP is “overstated,” though it does owns the CFPs media rights through 2031. However, with the net paying $7.8B, the “opinions of its executives matter.” Russo & Vannini wonder if ESPN would “encourage a CFP format that undercuts the event’s credibility with fans” (THE ATHLETIC, 3/3).
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