REPORT: College Football Playoff To Hold Off Expansion Through 2025 Season
For those hoping for the College Football Playoff to expand in 2022, hold your breath a while longer.
The CFP committee announced Friday that its current four-team format will continue through the end of the current contract of the 2025 season. For months, there has been speculation that the CFP could potentially expand to either an eight- or 12-team format prior to the end of the current deal.
College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock released a statement, saying that while conversations will continue for an expanded postseason, the committee feels as if the current format is the ideal formula to find the proper champion.
"The Board of Managers has accepted a recommendation from the Management Committee to continue the current four-team playoff for the next four years, as called for in the CFP's original 12-year plan," Hancock said. "At the same time, the Board expects the Management Committee to continue its discussions of a new format that would go into effect for the 2026-27 season."
The proposed 12-team format was expected to provide a more equal playing field for all conferences to be represented at the game's highest level. The format would allow the Power Five conference champions to earn berths, plus the top non-Power Five conferences. The remaining six spots would be at-large bids as determined by the CFP selection committee.
The top four teams would receive a bye week while the first round of the new CFP would be played on the campus of the higher-seeded team two weeks after conference championship games. The quarterfinal round would feature eight teams and would be played at a neutral site roughly around Dec. 31 - Jan. 2.
"Even though the outcome did not lead to a recommendation for an early expansion before the end of the current 12-year contract, the discussions have been helpful and informative," Hancock said. "I am sure they will serve as a useful guide for the Board of Managers and for the Management Committee as we determine what the Playoff will look like beginning in the 2026-2027 season."
The current four-team format has been in place since the inauguration of the CFP in 2014. The top four teams would be voted on by the CFP selection committee, and placed in two of six major bowl games on a three-year cycle.
Those bowl games are the Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange, Fiesta, and Peach. Last season marked the third time in CFP playoff history that two schools from the same conference were selected in the same season.
In 2020, Notre Dame was selected as a representative of the ACC. Alabama and Georgia both have gone as representatives of the SEC in 2017 and 2021, with each taking home the title in an SEC Championship rematch in the national championship.
"I share the disappointment felt by many college football fans today," Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff posted on Twitter. "I look forward to working collaboratively with other Commissioners to deliver a football playoff format that is more inclusive and balanced."
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