Big Ten open to meeting SEC scheduling demand for 24-team College Football Playoff field
Following Petitti’s comments, the official stated that the conference is “comfortable” respecting the rule. The SEC laid out its conditions for a larger field in a memo to CFP executives last week, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports. The requirement, described in the memo as 10 “qualifying events,” counts games against power conference opponents or Notre Dame.
The development is the clearest sign yet that the two leagues that hold veto power over the sport’s postseason are moving toward each other rather than away for the first time since expansion talks began in early 2025. The SEC has long supported a 16-team field or staying at 12. The Big Ten wanted 24 and successfully recruited support from the ACC and Big 12 in the spring. Because any format change requires approval from the Big Ten and the SEC, that matchup has frozen the format at 12 teams for next season.
It’s unclear what “10 qualifying events” means for smaller programs in the Group of Six conferences.
In January, Petitti blocked a move to 16 teams during CFP meetings before the national championship in Miami, killing the expansion even though the rest of the CFP Management Committee backed him, Yahoo! Sports reported. This spring, the positions were reversed: The ACC, the Big 12 and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua all backed a 24-team model built almost entirely on at-large bids, leaving Sankey alone with his 16-team model.
The ACC, Big 12 and SEC require their members to play at least 10 games against powerful opponents, even within their conference. Currently, all four leagues play, or are transitioning to, a nine-game conference schedule, although the Big Ten does not demand an additional non-conference game against a power opponent. Sankey told his colleagues that the SEC must recover approximately $100 million it would lose by eliminating its conference championship game.
CFP executives are concerned that expansion to a 16-team field would not fully recoup money lost from television contracts tied to conference championship games. A 16- or 24-team field will require conferences to finish those games.
A 24-team field creates 12 additional games and opens the door for the CFP to negotiate with multiple broadcast entities. ESPN controls exclusive rights to the playoffs, up to 14 teams.
The playoff leaders face a Dec. 1 contractual deadline to decide whether the 12-team field expands in time for next season. CFP executives spent two hours on a call Tuesday discussing whether to activate a mandatory 30-day negotiating window with ESPN, a necessary step before the playoffs can take his rights to the open market, according to Dellenger. But that could happen soon, sources told CBS Sports.
Another obstacle is the Army-Navy game. Navy has opposed moving the game to the first Saturday in December, when conference title games are normally played, to make room for eight first-round playoff games in the second week of December. President Donald Trump also signed an executive order calling for protecting the game’s broadcast window.
