Feasibility study is next phase in playoff expansion proposal
The university presidents who oversee the College Football Playoff have approved the next step in the expansion process: a feasibility study to determine the details for the proposed 12-team, four-round event that would transform college football.
Formal approval is expected this fall, with expansion beginning in either the 2023 or 2026 seasons.
Following a meeting Tuesday in Dallas, the presidents who make up the CFP’s Board of Managers issued a statement via the board’s chair, Mark Keenum of Mississippi State:
“Having heard the presentation made today by the working group, along with the management committee that
joined us for today’s meeting, the board has authorized the management committee to begin a summer review phase that will engage other important voices in this matter.
“These include many people on our campuses, such as student-athletes, athletics directors, faculty athletics representatives, coaches, and university presidents and chancellors. Their opinions are important, and we want to hear them.
“We have relationships with the bowls and a broadcast partner (ESPN) with whom we will want
to consult to explore the feasibility of the 12-team proposal.
“This too will happen during this summer study period. Having given the management committee the charge to look into expansion, it is our duty to take their good work and ascertain whether it is feasible based on the feedback we receive. I caution observers of our process not to rush to conclusions about what this board may decide. The working group has presented us a thorough and thoughtful proposal. There is more work to do, more listening to do and more information needed before we can make a decision.”
Washington State president Kirk Schulz is the Pac-12’s representative on the Board of Managers.
George Kliavkoff, who takes over the Pac-12 on July 1, attended the meeting in Dallas along with commissioner Larry Scott.
Last week, Scott issued a statement in which he said the Pac12 favored automatic bids for the Power Five conference champions.
However, the conference could be alone in that regard — publicly, at least — for there is strong support nationally to adopt the model currently under consideration:
• Automatic bids for the six highest-ranked conference winners. (There are 10 leagues in all.)
• Six at-large berths determined by the end-of-season rankings.
• Opening-round byes for the top four seeds.
• Home games for the No. 5 through 8 seeds against the No. 9 through 12 seeds.
• The use of traditional bowls as sites for the quarterfinals and semifinals, with the championship at a neutral location.
However, the expansion proposal working through the pipeline requires feedback on key issues, including the physical toll on the athletes from added games and whether the top four seeds should be given home games in the quarterfinals.
The specific role of the bowl games within the four-round event is also in question. Would the Rose Bowl, for example, give up its Pac-12 vs. Big Ten pairing in order to host a quarterfinal or semifinal every year?
“It’s tricky,” a Pac-12 source said of the Rose Bowl’s fate. “We all want to preserve it, but they don’t want to have a separate game.
“But if it’s part of the (playoff) rotation, then it’s just one of those major games, and they don’t like putting their brand out there when they aren’t in full control of it.”
The university presidents are scheduled to meet again in late September, at which point the expansion proposal likely will become reality.