Deadline set for CFP expansion plan

The college sports leaders who run the College Football Playoff have about four months to come to an agreement on a new format if expansion is to be implemented for the 2024 season.

If they can’t get it done by then, any change to the way major college football decides its national champion will have to wait until the current television contract with ESPN runs out after 2025.

“We have time,” CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said Tuesday after a four-hour meeting with the management committee. “Because if the event is going to change before the end of the term, into the 12 years, we have three or four months. If it’s going to change in year 13, then we have a couple of years. So, we have the luxury of time.”

Hancock said they discussed lingering issues that need to be hammered out before a decision on whether to expand is made. Most importantly, how many teams?

A 12-team plan was unveiled in June, but an eight-team playoff is still on the table, along with simply staying at the current four, Hancock said.

The Board of Managers, comprised of 11 presidents and chancellors representing each conference and Notre Dame, were originally expected to attend in-person, but instead joined online for the final two hours of the meeting, Hancock said.