The 2025 College Football Playoff format is in a state of flux, as executives met on Tuesday to discuss possible changes after a proposal from the Big Ten and SEC to alter the playoff seeding.
According to a report from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, conference commissioners say more data is needed before deciding to change the seeding model.
The Big Ten and SEC have proposed a move to a “straight seeding” model that would eliminate the first-round byes to the top four seeds, but doing so would require a unanimous vote from the CFP management committee.
In the current 12-team format, the top four seeds are guaranteed to make $8 million in the CFP’s performance-based distribution model. Each of the teams seeded No. 1 through No. 4 gets $4 million for making the field and another $4 million for advancing to the second round.
Therein lies the first problem. If the playoff moves to a “straight seeding” model, the Big 12 and ACC would risk losing access to those funds. However, Dellenger says that there is a “possibility of the four highest-ranked conference champions continuing to earn that additional revenue despite not receiving a top four seed and first-round bye.”
That’s not the only issue, though, as Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark and ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips believe that changes in 2025 could be a precursor to changes coming in 2026, when the CFP begins a new six-year contract with ESPN—a period where the SEC and Big Ten have all the leverage in making changes to the format.
Yormark warned that changes in 2025 would “set the tone” for changes in the years following. “You cannot look at them in a bifurcated way.”
“You’ve got to look at it in totality,” Phillips said, according to Dellenger. “It’s one contract coming to an end and a new cycle. Those things have some linkage.”
Should the Big 12, ACC, and Group of Six commissioners stand pat and take what they can before losing all decision-making rights in 2026? Or, should they concede and hope that a good-faith agreement leads to better circumstances for them in the years ahead?
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