College football leaders debate playoff expansion with Friday deadline looming

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — College football leaders gave every indication Sunday that they remain stuck in a yearlong debate about expanding the playoff from 12 teams to 16 or beyond.

Commissioners and school presidents met on the eve of the College Football Playoff title game, facing a Friday deadline from ESPN — the $7.8 billion bankroller of the postseason — to decide on changing or staying at the current 12-team model.

The debate boils down to two conferences, the Big Ten and SEC, that both want to expand but have widely different visions of how far expansion should go.

“I think that’s up to two people,” American Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti said.

He was speaking of Tony Petitti of the Big Ten and Greg Sankey of the SEC, who did not reach any agreement during the last scheduled meeting before Friday’s deadline.

“Still more work to do,” Petitti said as he quickly made his way toward an escalator at the Miami Beach hotel where the meeting was held. “100 percent, we’re still working.”

The Miami-Indiana final Monday night will mark the end of the current contract, and a six-year deal worth $1.3 billion a year kicks in next season. Its revenue-distribution model doles out more to the SEC and Big Ten than the Atlantic Coast and Big 12, among the power conferences. Just as importantly, it leaves the two biggest leagues squarely in charge of what comes next.

The SEC is pushing for an expansion to 16 teams, with an emphasis on at-large bids — a format favored by the other Power Four leagues and most of the smaller conferences that are hoping for access into whatever comes next.

The Big Ten has pushed for a bracket of up to 24 teams with multiple automatic qualifiers from each conference. It could do away with the need for conference title games and replace them with seeding games to determine, say, two or three of the automatic spots.

“It’s a system that would keep a lot of teams in it, put some more value into the regular season,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said in an interview Saturday. “This is really about quality people coming together” to make a decision.

If the commissioners can’t agree on a new number, the tournament would automatically stay at 12, with a deadline of Dec. 1, 2026, to make any changes for the following season.

The only real news coming out of the weekend was a social media post from President Donald Trump saying he would sign an executive order to give an exclusive four-hour window to the Army-Navy game, which takes place the second Saturday in December — a date currently wedged between conference title games and the start of the playoff.

A move to 16 or more games could put the playoff in conflict with the annual meeting between service academies.

“This national event stands above Commercial Postseason Games,” said Trump, who will attend Monday night’s final.

Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, the chair of the CFP board of managers, tried to strike a tone of calm, not committing to the idea that any chance for compromise is dead.

“This was not a deadline day of any kind, so they’re still talking, and we anticipate the discussions will continue,” Keenum said.

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