If you were looking for a little extra spice around the never-ending conversation involving an expansion of the college football playoff, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti has you covered.
As conference leaders wrapped up their spring meetings outside of Los Angeles on Tuesday night, the topic of whether a move to once again add teams to the playoff was the hot-button topic outside of the Congressional push to ‘save’ college athletics.
Currently, commissioners from the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Group of Five are essentially trading sound bites on the topic of expansion.
As Tony Petitti leads the charge for a 24-team college football playoff, if there is one at all, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is holding firm with his stance on either staying where we are with 12 or potentially only adding four additional teams to the format.
And while it might make for entertaining banter, Petitti made it clear this week that we will either see a 24-team format, or no change at all.
Clearly, judging by the constant chatter among those on social media, college football fans are over it and would rather see the playoff stay at 12 teams rather than a massive jump.
But, in this era of expensive rosters and schools trying to keep up with each other from a financial standpoint, the additional revenue that would come with expansion is hard to look away from.
And while this point of emphasis has already become a major part of the discussion, it’s also starting to turn into a major roadblock for those who would enjoy the added dollars.
But, after winning their third-straight CFP title, and Michigan winning a basketball championship, we are witnessing the Big Ten starting to act like a conference that has a stranglehold on the current era of college athletics, at least based on championships won.
It’s also not as easy as getting everyone in a room and just agreeing to change.
On one hand, if you were to expand, conference title weekend would be a major obstacle with the calendar, given that we are already witnessing the season end in late January. But, the biggest factor is contracts tied to these championship weekends, with ESPN and FOX paying somewhere around $160 million combined to broadcast the Big Ten and SEC championship games.
“I don’t think it works economically,” Tony Petitti said about a 16-team format, while also citing the economic loss of conference title games.
Greg Sankey has noted numerous times that his conference is locked into contracts, so just eliminating an SEC title game is not feasible right now, unless there is some type of replacement games that would involve the CFP.
Recently, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea told OutKick that incorporating the playoff into a potential slate of games in Atlanta could be one idea, with the winners getting a spot in the postseason.
“We’re going to have to let go of some traditional end of the year elements in college football,” Clark Lea mentioned, while also noting that he ‘thinks’ that would be a conference championship.
What could create revenue for the conference if title games were to be eliminated?
“Somehow the playoff model is incorporated, right?” Lea offered up. “Otherwise, this (season) extends forever. I think we saw last year these ridiculous breaks in play
But, there is a massive line in the sand that has been drawn between the two conferences that will make the final decision.
Tony Petitti made it clear on Tuesday at Big Ten meetings that his conference leaders did not spend any time debating a 16-team model, mentioning that “It’s the first year of the new deal. It’s still just getting started. We’d stay with twelve teams”, if sides can’t agree on a 24-team format.
Ok, I think most college football fans would take him up on that war of words, though it won’t make commissioners outside of the Big Ten or SEC happy, at all.
In their own way of public persuasion, Big Ten COO Kerry Kenny told reporters that according to their research, 80 different teams would’ve made the playoff since 2014 if they were working under a 24-team format. These figures have been shared with other conferences during past CFP meetings, which is another reason we have seen a recent push from other members like Jim Phillips of the ACC and Brett Yormark of the Big 12.
Don’t forget, just three months ago, those two conferences were pushing for a 16-team format. But, when you start crunching the numbers, an infusion of cash would be helpful for plenty, even with a majority of Big 12 teams recently turning down private equity funds.
Dabo Swinney is right: Coaches opinions don’t matter in College Football Playoff expansion fight
As for where we stand heading into next week, all eyes will be on SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. Even though they might not agree on a CFP expansion format, both “work really well together”, according to Tony Petitti.
That disagreement is not going away any time soon, with the Dec. 1 deadline approaching, where a decision has to be made.
Now, as the eyes of college football shift from the California beaches to Destin, Florida, for the upcoming SEC spring meetings next week, it’s become even clearer just how far both sides are in terms of compromise.
The Big Ten has now publicly let it be known where they stand in terms of expanding the playoff. Either agree to 24 teams or we stay at 12. For a conference that has dominated on the football field over the past three seasons, with trophies to prove it, the Big Ten is starting to get the hang of being on top.
All the while, the SEC is sticking to their guns for now, while trying to play catch-up in terms of winning titles in this new era of college athletics.
For the fans, this might be one disagreement they can get behind.
