Big Ten Floats Document Showing How Proposed 24-Team Playoff Would Work

The Big Ten conference has continued its push for a 24-team College Football Playoff, as the league aims to get as many of its member teams into the postseason tournament as possible in future years.

According to an internal document obtained by ESPN, the Big Ten is interested in eliminating conference championship games and adding an extra weekend of on-campus home playoff games. The internal document is titled “24 team CFP Format Compromise” and has been circulated to athletic directors and a select working group of head coaches.

The format is set in stone for next season, as the deadline has passed and the playoff will remain at 12 teams for the 2026-27 campaign. However, it is expected that the Big Ten’s push will intensify this summer and into next season for another round of CFP expansion. An expansion agreement was not reached for next season after the SEC desired to expand to 16 teams, while the Big Ten wanted assurances that the playoff would eventually move from 16 teams to 24.

Per the internal document obtained by ESPN, the Big Ten aims for a 16-team playoff in 2027 and 2028, and a move to 24 teams by no later than the ‘29 college football season, which would run through ‘31.

The proposed 16-team format previously discussed would include five automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large teams. The 24-team format proposed by the Big Ten would take the 23 best teams and would allow one additional guaranteed spot for the Group of 6 in a “23+1” model. The top eight teams would receive byes, and there would be eight first-round home games on college campuses, followed by eight additional second-round games on college campuses. For the first time, top seeds in the CFP bracket would get a chance to host a home game.

The Big Ten’s “optimal window” for the 24-team playoff would be a start date in the second weekend in December, quarterfinals on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at bowl sites, semifinals the following week at bowl sites, and a national championship game at a neutral site in mid-January.

One of the biggest looming issues is how the CFP would handle making up the cost of conference title games to each league, which has proven to be a big moneymaker for power conferences and Group of 6 leagues alike. There’s no clear idea as to how that revenue would be made up.

Expect much more discussion about the future of the CFP in the coming months.

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