A 16-team College Football Playoffs? Big Ten, SEC split on proposals

The future of the College Football Playoffs (CFP) is still undecided with less than a week to go until the deadline on Friday, January 23.

Proposed changes to the format were discussed on Sunday, during the annual business meeting of CFP leaders. Currently a 12-team competition, there is a widespread desire to expand the format to 16 teams but negotiations have proved difficult.

Much of the power lies in the hands of the Big Ten and the SEC, two major college football conferences. Both parties need to agree on a new format before the deadline on Friday, as set by exclusive television broadcaster ESPN.

Unless an agreement can be found before Friday, the CFP will remain a 12-team tournament for at lest one more year.

What is the proposed college football format?

Although there is broad agreement on the desire to expand the college football playoffs, there is one key sticking point that divides the conference leaders. ESPN reports that the Big Ten is pushing for a 16-team format, followed by a further expansion to 24 teams after three years.

This would radically alter the structure of college football and would likely deprive the SEC of a major money-maker.

A 24-team CFP structure would require individual conferences to get rid of their championship games. For the SEC, in particular, those showpiece games between conference rivals are a major event and there is an understandable reluctance to remove them.

More broadly, there is concern that a 24-team playoff format could lesser the importance of the regular season.

Unless a deal can be found before the Friday, January 23 deadline, the CFP format will remain unchanged for 2026. It remains to be seen whether a compromise can be found that gets both the Big Ten and the SEC on board.

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