Sankey is now the lone holdout on going to a 24-team playoff field. He is carrying the water for his buddies at ESPN, who do not want the playoff broadcast to end and do not want their bowl game inventory diminished.

Tony Petitti and the Big Ten have dropped the idea of automatic qualifiers and offered to go to a 16-team field for two years before the playoff expands to 24 teams.

Tony and the B1G will go no further to appease Sankey. Especially now that the ACC, B12, and Notre Dame are on board with 24.

Will Sankey's reluctance to go to 24 make it past the SEC spring meetings? The SEC ADs and coaches are not uniformly behind Sankey's refusal to expand.

Businessman Petitti played the long game, and it will pay off, just like B1G commissioner Jim Delaney's insane idea to start a network covering only one conference's athletic programs has paid off in a B1G way.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/sources-college-football-coaches-throwing-support-behind-24-team-cfp-format-210748377.html

On3's report with a better graphic.

On3

AFCA Board votes in favor of 24-team CFP, elimination of...

.

Perhaps Sankey doesn't really care all that much....16 or 24? He may prefer a "groundswell" decision rather than having his name singularly associated for the SEC decision?

Not related, but read a column recently which re-capped Yorkmark taking the Big12 to market early in late 2022 and made a pretty logical argument that the move was almost singularly the death blow to the old Pac12. It was an interesting piece about Yormark. Wish I had the link.

Doesn't get much recognition from Beavs & Cougs partisans, but Yormark's moves on Colorado and Arizona immediately before the UO/UW decision also was a factor.

Greg?

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/acc-24-team-college-football-playoff-expansion/?ftag=SNL-04-10aaa0b&ET_CID=550333&ET_RID=52482716

"ESPN, who do not want ... their bowl game inventory diminished."

Not sure why this piece of it doesn't get more attention in national media? With 24 CFP participants, it means more 5-7 record teams in bowls and lower TV ratings. I suspect ESPN is also concerned about programming inventory. If some of those bowl games they own go away, they have to find other stuff to put in those time slots, get advertisers, etc.

The ACC just came out in support. They've also seemingly grown tired of Notre Dame using them as a doormat. Since Notre Dame is assured of always making the twelve team, I'm guessing the other programs want to make their special privileges just a little less special.

Sure Notre Dame, you can get in a 24 team playoff if you are top 12.

If the NCAA managed the CFB 'D1' PO, we would have had a 24-team field decades ago.

Oregon Ducks On SI

Effect That 24-Team Playoff Would Have Had on Previous Or...

The College Football Playoff has been gaining momentum for 24 teams. The playoff went from four teams to 12 teams for the 2024 season and the field could double

On 5/14/2026 at 1:14 AM, GatOrlando said:

Sure Notre Dame, you can get in a 24 team playoff if you are top 12.

This is something I would vote for...

...however, if they were only top 13 or 14 there would have to be some other compelling reasons to let them into the playoff.

I will stand my ground, and I won't back down! Hey Sankey, stop being Petty, tell ESPN to 🤬and go for 24 -

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/bigten/2026/05/20/big-ten-24-team-cfp-expansion-sec/90172689007/?utm_source=usatoday-sports-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=usatbaseline&utm_term

And on the issue of access, Tony P is spot on. In the last two postseasons, five SEC teams that should have been in the PO field, per Greg Sankey, lost to Big Ten teams with equal or worse regular-season records. BTW, Tony P didn't make a B1G deal over quality teams being PO passed over.

CFB does not have enough data points for a group of people to use anything but the 'eye test' when it comes to, say, a 2-loss BYU vs. a 3-loss Bama.

Was anyone surprised that under the same scenario, a loss in the conference champ game, that Bama was forgiven, while BYU was kicked to the curb?

Team No. 25 and its fans will whine, but, as in the CBB tournament, the last team out will not win a title.

And, of course, the selection process is influenced by a broadcast company running a bowl extravaganza and not a playoff.

On3

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti claims 16-team College...

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti claims the 16-team College Football Playoff does not provide enough access.

When college football started to become less about the game, and more about the money made by corporations specializing in communication technologies, the words of media puppets like Sankey became nothing more than what is being placed in their mouths by their media (and university?) bosses.

So long as the ESPN’s and Fox’s of this world can count on being bailed-out by Sherman Anti-Trust rulings, nothing is going to change the direction in which this conflict of values is going.

And, this IS about values: a national cultural heritage vs. $$.

Perhaps it is time to begin viewing this conflict in those terms; college football as a national cultural treasure being plundered by an outside source that is destroying something that belongs to us all — in the same light as Federal Cultural Heritage laws protect and shield native historical sites, including, “intangible traditions that hold significant value for a community or the nation”.

Know it’s a long shot, but just trying to think outside the box for something I love.

OK, a 24-team PO is terrible because it's disrespectful to CFB Tradition!

On the doorstep of obtaining octogenarian status, I'm all in favor of CFB returning to its traditional roots.

(BTW, the income from a 24-team PO field will exceed the income generated by conference champ games, and CFB will be watched by more fans than in the history of the game. Flex schedule and play a champ game in the final week of the regular season. DUH.)

The Big Ten, Pac-8, Big 8, and ACC conferences do not expand. / CFB plays a ten-game regular season with games played in the daylight. / No star rankings of high school athletes and recruiting classes. / A portal is something you pass through on the way to class. / The NCAA controls game inventory with one game a week, and occasionally, two games available for viewing on network TV. / No conference networks, no cable, and no coverage of CFB during the week except in your newspaper's Sports Section. (Results of games played on the West Coast are published on Monday.) / A return to carrying the winning coach off the field on the players' shoulders instead of drowning him in Gatorade. / Football is played on stuff called 'grass,' not turf. / No fines for tearing the goal posts down.

Five bowl games with the Pac-8 champ matching up with the Big Ten champ in Pasadena on 1/1, but no back-to-back Big Ten teams appearances.

Mom and Dad are thrilled with their son receiving free books, room and board, and free tuition, and if the coach is tough on Johnnie, that's OK.

The SEC is fractured up. 😁Too bad, so sad. 😍

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/a-fractured-sec-looking-for-consensus-on-cfp-expansion-as-big-ten-draws-clear-line-at-24-team-model/ar-AA23Lcjw?ocid=msedgdhphdr&cvid=6a0f884b4d7447b3980fb1d8335ef264&cvpid

I wonder if they are serving grits with the whine? You B1G bullies!

Tony P played the long game to perfection; he was not concerned with sticks and stones. Tony will soon join Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, who was laughed at for thinking that a network devoted to one conference's athletics would be successful.

The complaints about going to 24 are biased, facile, and ignore the reality that college sports, especially CFB and CBB, today are a big business, and the majority of athletic departments are bleeding red ink.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/05/22/college-football-playoff-24-teams-16-format-big-ten-sec/90142016007/?utm_source=usatoday-sports-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=usatbaseline&utm_term=Content%20L

SMH! 24-team PO hitmen make a big deal out of UGA's president opposing the move to 24.

Did the prez check in with his ball coach Kirby Smart? Kirby has said that 16 or 24 would both be fine with him. Tennessee's Josh Heupel wants a 24-team field.

Tony P: Hold Fast!

It seems to me that it really doesn’t matter whether you have a 24, 48, 72 CFP, or go back to the old 4 teams. With the current direction things are going in, the power team universities will come out on top no matter what the format, and a few crumbs will go to the rest.

While I’m no fan of ESPN, the old bowl system did provide a regional attractiveness to small schools from those bowl areas that gave them a fighting chance to be included in some of that year end money that they’ll never see in an ever expanding CFP.

From where I’m viewing this, it’s really just about Fox trying to take down ESPN, and neither really cares what effect their greed has upon team unity, loyalty and stability, or the concepts of university life, and the over all health of a cultural heritage we’re watching being destroyed by us allowing them to turn it into just “a business”.

There is a word that describes that. Cancer.

1 hour ago, Washington Waddler said:

It seems to me that it really doesn’t matter whether you have a 24, 48, 72 CFP, or go back to the old 4 teams. With the current direction things are going in, the power team universities will come out on top no matter what the format, and a few crumbs will go to the rest.

While I’m no fan of ESPN, the old bowl system did provide a regional attractiveness to small schools from those bowl areas that gave them a fighting chance to be included in some of that year end money that they’ll never see in an ever expanding CFP.

From where I’m viewing this, it’s really just about Fox trying to take down ESPN, and neither really cares what effect their greed has upon team unity, loyalty and stability, or the concepts of university life, and the over all health of a cultural heritage we’re watching being destroyed by us allowing them to turn it into just “a business”.

There is a word that describes that. Cancer.

I more than understand your POV.

If you liked bowl games tied to teams from a given region, I think you will enjoy 16 games played on campus, which is part of the Big Ten's proposal.

It is a 24-team PO, but the 1st round is a play-in round for teams seeded 9 through 24.

Tony Petitti believes the regular season will be enhanced by teams battling to make the field, secure favorable seeds, and have a reasonable bye period for the top 8 teams. I agree.

I see nothing wrong with Fox, CBS, NBC, and others joining the PO broadcast bidding. I see a lot wrong with ESPN employees dumping on PO expansion to keep their employer's PO broadcast exclusivity and to maintain the value of its bowl inventory.

Whining about conference champ games going away is a red herring, and as many coaches have expressed, with more than a 4-team PO field, who wants to add a 13th game to what is a long enough season?

I'm calling horse hockey on Mario wanting to play conference champ games. Miami, in 20 seasons in the ACC, has played in one conference champ game and lost.

Would Mario have preferred to have played 17 instead of 16 games last season?

Thanks for the comment.

6 hours ago, Washington Waddler said:

It seems to me that it really doesn’t matter whether you have a 24, 48, 72 CFP, or go back to the old 4 teams. With the current direction things are going in, the power team universities will come out on top no matter what the format, and a few crumbs will go to the rest.

While I’m no fan of ESPN, the old bowl system did provide a regional attractiveness to small schools from those bowl areas that gave them a fighting chance to be included in some of that year end money that they’ll never see in an ever expanding CFP.

From where I’m viewing this, it’s really just about Fox trying to take down ESPN, and neither really cares what effect their greed has upon team unity, loyalty and stability, or the concepts of university life, and the over all health of a cultural heritage we’re watching being destroyed by us allowing them to turn it into just “a business”.

There is a word that describes that. Cancer.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that greed is killing this game. Not sure its just playoff expansion. Unfortunately, ever since the BCS, the bowl system has been on the clock. Frankly, 34 bowl games is a joke to me. Why not play 78? So every team gets an extra week? Not to mention, the schools lose money: they have to guarantee ticket sales. Talk about grift!

I really like 12 teams with play in options. Texas and ND deserved a shot at playing in the playoffs. Miami got the benefit of looking good early despite playing to the level of their competition all year (not my idea of rewarding a team that is supposed to be elite-elite teams dominate teams like Louisville and SMU-they're simply not equipped to handle the kind of talent Miami has).

I believe the 24 team format forces the SEC to counter with a legit field, that determines who qualifies by how they play on the field and who they play on the field. Otherwise "F" it. If you're going to arbitrarily pick teams like Miami in 25' and some say Indiana (unjustly) in 24', just let the mediocre be fodder for blowouts and give the second level P4 teams a look at what they could be if they had the ability to compete against the real power in CFB.

I simply cannot stand a South Carolina crying about their "lost opportunity"-only to lose in a bowl game. Make that kind of bubble team a play in entry level play in game. Keep the field at 12, and force the bubble teams into a mini playoff. Also, no 45 hundred day layoffs either. From Week 0 at the end of August until January 1, every week is showing college football. Army and Navy get their wonderful "nation watches their game" window, and then its on to the true best group of teams playing for a title (and frankly I believe only 8 get automatic slots and the other 8 are playing for 4 spots against numbers 5,6,7 and 8).

The game needs a commissioner. Because the conferences, player reps(also know as unlicensed agents) and the TV execs are killing the game. Players are not students in the real sense, so scholarships must go. Contracts can include school as part of the compensation package-so we can weed out the dudes looking for a "bag of money" instead of truly representing Universities and Colleges. Let's call it what it is-professional football for 18-22 year-olds.