CFP has ‘time’ on expansion call
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 of four months. If it’s going to change in year 13, they we have a couple of years. So we have the luxury of time.”
The management committee, comprised of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s AD, gathered at a hotel outside Chicago for a meeting that had been planned for several months.
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.
Mixed martial arts: Former UFC champion Jon Jones dented a patrol vehicle with his head during his arrest last week on a domestic battery charge for allegedly grabbing his fiancée by her hair, according to an arrest report made public. Jones’ fiancée left their room at Caesars Palace with the couple’s three children and police said she had apparent blood on her clothing when officers interviewed her about the pre-dawn altercation Friday. Jones, 34, was walking outside the Las Vegas Strip hotel when he was stopped by officers and “became irate and smashed his head onto the front hood” of the patrol SUV, leaving a medium dent and chipped paint, the report said. The domestic battery charge is a misdemeanor. The vehicle charge is a felony, with damage reported at more than $5,000.
NBA: Pacers G Caris LeVert has a stress fracture in his back, but there’s optimism that he could return around the start of the season, ESPN reported.
NFL: Former All-Pro CB Richard Sherman worked out for the Buccaneers, according to reports. Sherman, 33, is dealing with legal issues and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for Friday in Washington . ... The Lions released LB Jamie Collins after failing to trade the former Pro Bowler. Collins, 31, stopped reporting to practice ahead of Week 3 as the Lions explored options for his future. He can now sign with another team immediately.
NHL: Devils G Mackenzie Blackwood said he has chosen not to receive a COVID19 vaccination, making him potentially unavailable for some of his team’s games this season. Blackwood, 24, is the only Devils player not to get vaccinated.
WNBA: Sun F Jonquel Jones was named league MVP for the first time. Jones, 27, who won most improved player in 2017 and sixth woman of the year in 2018, averaged 19.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots this regular season. She received all but one of the 49 first-place votes from a media panel. Mercury C Brittney Griner garnered the other first-place vote and finished a distant second. Also, the Sun’s Curt Miller won coach of the year for the second time.