Power Conferences May Form New Committee to Shape Future of College Football Playoff

According to a new report from Yahoo, there may be a new working group put together to discuss the future of the College Football Playoff.

Big Ten conference commissioner Tony Petitti will be one of the top individuals tasked with shaping the future of the College Football Playoff. / Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images

FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua met in Chicago on Wednesday for the annual fall College Football Playoff meeting, but there was very little discussion about the future format for the sport.

Instead, the focus was on the playoff's governance structure and an organizational study conducted by a third-party consulting firm.

And for good reason.

According to a new report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, power conference commissioners are "exploring a new working group" that will help shape the future of the College Football Playoff. The committee has yet to be formed, but will likely feature two to three athletic directors from each of the four power conferences.

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To backdrop the new committee, Big Ten administrators are floating a new format that would grant each power conference an equal number of automatic qualifiers into the College Football Playoff, which could feature a field of 20 teams or more. Dellenger added that multiple formats could be under consideration aside from the new idea from the Big Ten, with brackets of 16, 28 or even 32 teams on the table for a future playoff.

If no format is reached for the 2026 playoff, the playoff is likely to remain at 12 teams. The deadline for the 2026 playoff format expires in two months.

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