Leaders of the College Football Playoff are still “mulling over” what the format should look like in 2026 and beyond, CFP executive director Rich Clark said on Wednesday following the conclusion of two days of meetings in Asheville, North Carolina
“Pretty much everything’s on the table and they’re taking a good look at it all of it,” Clark said. “So I wouldn’t say there’s a leading contender right now for them, but they’re taking a fresh look at it.”
Last month, at the SEC’s spring meetings in Destin, Florida, there was new support from the head football coaches for a 16-team model that would include the five highest-ranked conference champions and 11 at-large teams. That quickly gained traction and public support from other leagues, but it also surprised many leaders in the Big Ten conference.
Many athletic directors in both leagues had been aligned in their desire to have automatic qualifiers that would guarantee both conferences four spots each in the playoff, with play-in games to determine whom the third and fourth playoff participants would be. Following the SEC’s spring meetings, many sources in the Big Ten have indicated that they wouldn’t even consider a 5+11 model unless the SEC and ACC both go to nine conference games.
The Big Ten and the SEC have the bulk of control of the next iteration of the playoff, but the two conferences haven’t been on the same page recently in terms of what that should look like.
“They’re obligated to come to an agreement on what the format is,” Clark said.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has said repeatedly that he wanted more clarity on the selection process before determining if the league should move to a nine-game schedule, and much of this week’s meetings were spent studying metrics, including strength of schedule. Clark said the CFP brought in a mathematician from Google to help the group, which included all 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua.
“I would say a lot of it is refreshing our metrics,” Clark said. “Some of these metrics were put into place with a whole different look at the way college football was laid out and the conferences were structured. … I wouldn’t say it’s dramatic, but it’s a refresh. We looked at some of our processes and how we do things within the selection committee meeting room. Some of the things we brought up to the table for them to consider, but just things to help us get better.”
Clark reiterated something Sankey said at his spring meetings and multiple other sources have surmised — the current 12-team model remains an option for 2026 and beyond. Whatever they decide, Clark said, they’d like to do it by the fall, and they’re not looking to postpone the decision by keeping the status quo for another season.
“I don’t think they’re going to kick the can a second year,” Clark said. “They’re going to make a decision on what they think that whole period should look like.”
The CFP did decide this week to incorporate sports wagering monitoring and will have its staff determine the details of it. The playoff will also use player availability reports, which would be done in a similar way to what some conferences already do, Clark said.
“We’re going to take that model on,” he said. “We have some work to do on that, though, to perfect it and to ensure that we’re doing it the right way, but that will be an important position for the CFP.”
Clark said there has been progress, but the group still has “lots of space to still make some decisions.”
“I don’t know if there’s any hurdles they have to get over, I think they just want to make sure they get it right,” Clark said. “That’s going to be six years of format that they’re deciding, and rushing to a bad decision is not in any of our best interests. They want to make sure they look at all the options and understand what the pros and cons are and make the best decision they can rather than trying to rush to something that may not suit us for the next phase of the CFP.”
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