Frustrated with the leadership of FBS commissioners, the College Football Playoff Board of Managers will meet Friday with a goal of adopting an expanded playoff bracket as soon as the 2024 season, CBS Sports has learned. The bracket would likely expand to 12 teams under the leading proposal, which was the original concept put in front of stakeholders from the CFP working group in June 2021.
The vote must be unanimous by the 11 members of the board. If enacted, expansion would likely triple access to the playoff from the current four teams. The 11-member board includes university CEOs representing each of the 10 FBS conferences, plus Notre Dame president John Jenkins. Mississippi State president Mark Keenum told ESPN earlier this year that presidential intervention could come as soon as next summer.
Apparently, the timeline has been moved up.
The commissioners failed in their attempt to reach consensus on a long, drawn-out process that extended through 2020 and into February 2022. That’s when the CFP officially announced expansion talks were dead. The presumption then was that playoff expansion would have to wait until at least 2026 when the current deal expires with ESPN.
There is still widespread support for CFP media rights to go out to multiple bidders. If expansion is instituted in 2024, ESPN would still have the rights to all the games for the final two years of a 12-year deal. Sports Illustrated first reported the approaching CFP meeting.
If expansion is approved Friday, the playoff would move to at least 12 teams, according to one person participating in the process. However, that source left the door open for a 16-team playoff to be considered by the body.
A 12-team playoff has been valued at $1.2 billion annually, up from the current $600 million.
A subcommittee of commissioners