By Stewart Mandel, Chris Vannini and Ralph D. Russo
ATLANTA — The university presidents that oversee the College Football Playoff have charged conference commissioners with reviewing the first year of the 12-team format and determining any potential format changes going forward.
The two groups met Sunday to begin discussions that will continue through at least the spring. Their meeting came ahead of Ohio State and Notre Dame squaring off in the first 12-team playoff championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday night.
“We’re going to turn to the Management Committee (the commissioners) and our staff to come up with any (changes), or keep it exactly the way it is,” said Mark Keenum, Mississippi State president and CFP board chairman.
Next season will be the last year of the CFP’s original contract with ESPN, during which any format changes would require a unanimous vote by the FBS conferences and Notre Dame. That is not the case for the new six-year deal that begins in 2026.
The most commonly cited complaint so far with the new system is the rule that reserves the four first-round byes for the four highest-ranked conference champions. This season, Mountain West champ Boise State and Big 12 champ Arizona State received byes despite being ranked No. 9 and No. 12 in the committee’s final rankings. That quirk led to No. 6 seed Penn State playing Boise in the quarterfinals while No. 1 seed Oregon drew an Ohio State team ranked three spots higher than the Broncos.
Changing that for next season, however, would require approval from conferences like the Big 12 and Mountain West whose champs could be ranked lower than multiple Big Ten and SEC teams.
GO DEEPER
What’s the big rush to change the 12-team College Football Playoff?
“There’s probably some things that could happen in short order that might be tweaks for the 2025 season, but we haven’t determined that yet,” said CFP executive director Rich Clark.
When asked, Clark didn’t provide a timeline for when any possible 2025 changes would need to be made, saying it would depend on how big any changes are.
As for where the games are played, the New Year’s Six bowls will continue hosting the quarterfinals and semifinals through at least 2025, and it does not sound realistic that will change in the next deal. While a long-form contract has not yet been executed, the CFP has an agreement in place with those bowls.
Other issues the CFP still needs to address include the sites of future national championship games. Next year’s game in Miami is the last one in place.
The next in-person CFP meeting will take place between commissioners in Dallas in April.
Required reading
(Photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
