Commissioners dig into CFP expansion; Pac-12 pushes autobids

ROSEMONT, ILL. » College Football Playoff expansion took another step forward Friday as the full group of commissioners who manage the postseason system wrapped up two days of digging into a plan for a 12-team format that would revamp the national championship.

The first debate about what the final version of a new playoff will look like has emerged: The Pac-12 is pushing for each Power Five conference to receive an automatic berth.

Expect at lot more negotiating to come.

“This is the beginning of a long, ongoing process,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said as he departed Big Ten headquarters in suburban Chicago. “It’s going to be months before we come to any closure on any of this.”

There is no announced timeline and the earliest expansion would be possible is 2023 if there are no big snags. Change could be as far out as the 2026 season after the current media rights contract with ESPN expires. The proposal put forth by a subcommittee that included Bowlsby does not address when a new format could be implemented.

“The working group intentionally did not get into it. They wanted to put a proposal in front of the management committee that the committee could consider without having the shackles of trying to figure out when to implement it,” CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said. “The group this week didn’t get into implementation time in a significant way. That will come later.”

“The first step is determining whether this new format is feasible or something the people on campus want to do,” Hancock said.

Last week, the CFP unveiled a plan to expand from four to 12 teams. Six spots would be reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions, but no league would automatically qualify. The other six teams would be chosen at-large from the selection committee’s rankings. The plan calls for first-round games on campuses and quarterfinal and semifinal games played in bowls.