Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti described his conversations with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey about the 24-team CFP proposal as “candid and open,” according to Jon Wilner of the San Jose MERCURY NEWS. In order to expand the field in time for the 2027 season, the Big Ten and SEC must reach an agreement by Dec. 1. Petitti said, “If we have to wait, it’s OK. We’ll wait.” Wilner noted Petitti “pushed back on the criticism of his plan,” which grants one automatic bid to the best team in the Group of Six conferences and reserves 23 at-large spots for teams chosen by the selection committee. The top-eight seeds would receive opening-round byes. But “atop the list of concerns for skeptics” is the thought that the 24-team CFP would “devalue the regular season, making big games less meaningful for highly-ranked teams whose CFP participation was assured.” Petitti believes the 24-team field would “empower teams to schedule challenging non-conference games because they would not view a loss as dooming their CFP prospects.” The SEC is “committed to 16 -- at least for now.” Asked about his concerns with 16, Petitti cited the “lack of new revenue, especially if the lucrative conference championship games were abolished, and limited access compared to a 24-team field” (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 5/19).
GENERATING INTEREST: The AP’s Eddie Pells noted over the past few weeks, both the ACC and Big 12 have said that they “would prefer a move to 24 teams.” Petitti said that the system “created enough ‘tiers’” -- with eight first-round byes, eight more first-round home games and the last eight spots going to teams simply looking for a playoff berth -- to “generate interest in regular-season games across the country, and down to the wire” (AP, 5/19).
NOT SAYING NO TO 24: The SEC has been the largest proponent of expanding to 16 teams, and Sankey said the league’s spring meetings next week will have “probably the most in-depth session on the College Football Playoff we’ve ever had with our athletic directors and our football coaches.” Sankey often has been cited as the main figure standing in the way of a 24-team field, but he said, “When we met with our presidents in January, there wasn’t enough information to justify just leaping to 24. I read an article this morning that said we’d never vote for 24. What you will hear next week is a lot of our coaches, a lot of our athletic directors certainly -- and probably some others -- think 24 is the right direction.” He continued, “What we’ve said is, that could ultimately be the proper direction. We just don’t think you leap to that without information. Research and understanding the marketplace informs decisions.” He said of the conference’s support of a 16-team field, “A year ago we said, with good rationale, that’s the right direction. Right now, that’s our position. We’ll see if there’s information that leads us in a different way” (“The Paul Finebaum Show,” SEC Network, 5/18).
TOO LARGE: In Houston, Kirk Bohls wrote the SEC “would be wise to stick to its guns as the last holdout” against a 24-team CFP as it is “not needed.” Bohls: “I sense no outcry from the general public over doubling the size of the field from its current 12-team format.” But a larger field would “diminish the impact of the regular season because any three-loss Power 4 conference team will be invited or be a strong contender.” Ohio State-Michigan should “mean something bigger than the rivalry and not just how it influences seeding.” Bohls: “Do you really think a 24-team bracket would influence coaches to schedule tougher teams? Not on your life.” A larger field “would also future dilute the market for bowl games.” Take away another dozen top teams, and “let’s see how attractive these bowl games are.” It is “about money as always” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/19).
