MIAMI BEACH, FL — As Friday’s deadline approaches, the Big Ten and SEC remain at an impasse over the future format of the College Football Playoff following Sunday’s annual business meeting of CFP leaders.
“There’s still work to do,” Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petti said as he walked past more than a dozen reporters waiting outside a meeting room at the Lowe Hotel in South Beach.
The Big Ten and SEC have greater control over the format through 2026 and beyond due to a memorandum of understanding signed by 10 FBS commissioners, including former American Conference commissioner Mike Aresco and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua. If Petty and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey are unable to agree on a format by Friday — an extended deadline imposed by sole TV rights holder ESPN — the playoff will remain at 12 teams for at least another year.
Sources said there is overwhelming support in the room for a 16-team playoff starting in 2026, but the Big Ten won’t agree to it until the SEC agrees to a 24-team format three years later. Sankey, chairman of the CFP’s board of managers, and Mississippi State president Mark Keenum have publicly stated that the SEC would prefer a 16-team model. Sources have said Sankey no longer wants to commit to a 24-team field, and Sankey was not immediately available for comment after the meeting.
“It wasn’t a day with any kind of deadline,” Keenum said after the meeting. “So they are still talking. We hope the discussions will continue and they will decide to stop at 12 o’clock or go to another number.”
The 24-team field would require conferences to eliminate their championship games, and this is something that has been highly valuable to the SEC. Sources said some in the room also were concerned about how the 24-team field would impact the regular season. When asked about the SEC’s position on the 24-team field, Keenum said he did not want to “get in front of my commissioner because he is negotiating the issue of what that number will be.”
Mid-American Commissioner John Steinbrecher said he expects “a lot of conversations” to continue between the Big Ten and the SEC this week, but there are no official meetings planned for the entire group as of now.
“There are going to be two conferences where this ship will go, which will have a lot of impact,” he said. “Stay tuned.”
One source said a 16-team field next season was still possible but not likely. US Commissioner Tim Pernetti said it was up to Sankey and Pettiti to figure it out.
“It’s up to the two people in the room to come back with something that we can all sit down and discuss,” Pernetti said. But right now, the discussion is ongoing.
