There is “growing support” for a 16-team College Football Playoff bracket, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported this week.
The four power conference commissioners — ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC — held a meeting in New York this week to discuss the future of the College Football Playoff. In addition to expanding the playoff field from 12 to 16 teams, the Big Ten and SEC “…continue to favor multiple AQs (automatic qualifiers) for their conferences.
How would that look in a 16-team bracket? The field would include a whopping four automatic bids for both the Big Ten and SEC, who are in control of the future playoff format. Below is a complete breakdown of the proposed 16-team bracket, per the report:
- 4 (SEC)
- 4 (B1G)
- 2 (ACC)
- 2 (B12)
- 1 (G6)
- 3 (at large)
Dellenger provided additional details on the format when he first reported on it in February:
Officials describe the 14-team format as a 4-4-2-2-1+1 model in which the top two seeds receive first-round byes. There would be no byes in a 16-team structure. In either, the CFP selection committee’s role is greatly diminished. The committee, its future — as the memorandum stipulates — also controlled by the SEC and Big Ten, would presumably seed 1 through 14 or 16 based directly on its top-25 rankings.
Also gaining support is another scheduling item that Dellenger previously reported on. The Big Ten and SEC are mulling “season-ending inner-league play-in games”, which would pit the third-place team against the sixth-place team and fourth-place team against the fifth-place team within each conference.
Not only would winners of those games receive bids to the College Football Playoff, but it would create extra matchups for television that also, of course, results in more revenue.
Could the SEC and Big Ten, if guaranteed four spots, pit their third-best team against the sixth and their fourth-best team against their fifth in on-campus, play-in games to the CFP? Would they advance their top two seeds automatically into the CFP or would they still play a title game? Or, would they match their top seed against their eighth-place finisher?
The games could fetch millions more in additional revenue from television partners.
In the Big 12 and ACC, similar conversations are being had.
According to the report, decisions on the future of the College Football Playoff format are expected in the the next couple of months. Both the Big Ten and SEC will hold their Spring meetings at the end of May, where the latter is also likely to continue discussions on a nine-game conference football schedule.
