Big Ten is "100 percent" in favor of College Football Playoff expansion
The Big Ten was one of three conferences to vote against College Football Playoff expansion, but that doesn't mean it's against it now.
“I’m 100 percent supportive of College Football Playoff expansion,” commissioner Kevin Warren said at Big Ten Media Days.
“What is that right number? We’ll figure it out. I’m confident we’ll get College Football Playoff expansion resolved.”
The original plan was to expand the playoff from four to 12 teams, a move that should be able to get more media outlets involved.
"I still feel strongly that we need to open it up to have multiple media partners," Warren said.
"We need to take a holistic view. We need to make sure we protect some of the critical bowl relationships. So as we work through all these, whether it's automatic qualifier, whatever the case may be, I'm confident as we get these new individuals in the room, get these issues on the table, that we'll be able to reach some resolution."
College Football Playoff expansion is off until 2025 (at least)
After months of debate, meetings, and behind the scenes negotiations, the College Football Playoff announced it will stay at four teams through the end of its current contract, after the 2025 season.
That decision cost the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame around $450 million in potential revenue, according to most reporting.
The move to expand — which requires a unanimous vote — was put down by an 8-3 margin, with the Big Ten, Pac-12, and ACC voting against the expansion proposal.
Why did the vote fail? There are several reported reasons, including
- inability to accommodate the Pac-12 relationship with the Rose Bowl, which wants to maintain its traditional Jan. 1 date and media rights,
- protracted disagreements over distribution of future revenue
- disputes over whether Power 5 conference champions should get automatic bids to an expanded playoff — the Big Ten is in favor, while the others are not
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