Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger published a bombshell report on Sunday evening, revealing that the future of college football is solely in the hands of the SEC and Big Ten, as they’ll ultimately control what the College Football Playoff will look like going forward.
“According to most who have viewed the memorandum of understanding from last spring, the SEC and Big Ten hold sole discretion on the future CFP format starting in 2026, the beginning of the CFP’s new six-year television agreement with ESPN that runs through the 2031 playoff,” Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports writes.
“The agreement grants the leagues decision-making powers over the format but directs them to have ‘meaningful consultation’ and collect ‘input’ from the other conferences before making their decision.“
Unfortunately, when two conferences are given the power to make decisions that will affect everyone in the sport, the outcome is likely to benefit them more than the other leagues.
There is momentum building within the Big Ten and SEC for an expanded playoff that includes multiple auto-bids for all Power Four conferences—but there’s a catch.
While the new proposal would give the Big 12 and ACC two automatic qualifiers for a 14-team playoff, it would give the Big Ten and SEC four bids each.
This format (4-4-2-2-1+1) would also give the Group of Five one bid and one remaining at-large bid to complete the field. The question is: Is this really what’s best for everyone?
There’s heavy speculation from the other leagues, as both the ACC and Big 12 have been vocal about eight of the 14 spots being guaranteed to the Big Ten and SEC.
Dellenger reports that several Big 12 and ACC administrators are not in support of a format with so many automatic bids going to the SEC and Big Ten. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told Dellenger that he’s been exploring “predictive analysis” on what different playoff models would mean for conference participation if applied to recent playoff formats, adding he’ll be, “armed with data.”
One Big 12 even went as far as to ask “who is looking out for the greater good” of college football, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
“It’s so unfortunate that we believe we have to continue to look out for our self-interests,” one Big 12 source said. “Who is looking out for the greater good of college athletics and college football in particular? If the discussions between the Big Ten and the SEC can bring ideas to the table that are going to look out for the greater good, then that’s great. They should be discussed and brought forward. But is that what’s really happening?”
It’s a tough pill to swallow, but at this point it feels like the Big 12 and ACC are forced to play by the rules or lose their spot at the table.
It’s a road with plenty of pitfalls and potholes, but it appears that the college football postseason is set to go through another reconstruction, and this time, it’ll be the self-proclaimed “big boys” calling the shots.
