LAS VEGAS — Expansion of the College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament, which recently seemed inevitable, could be on hold indefinitely based on comments Tuesday by two key voices.
Speaking at public events thousands of miles apart, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips hinted that structural changes to the premier events in college sports could be delayed — although on different timelines.
The push to expand March Madness to 72 or 76 teams in time for the upcoming season has lost momentum in the face of public opposition and financial challenges. The event won’t expand unless the revenue allocated to participating teams grows, as well. For that to happen, TV partners CBS and Turner must increase their commitment.
“It will be difficult to push it through this year,” Phillips said at an ACC football media event in Charlotte. “Who knows? There’s still time to do that, but I want to do it in a really thoughtful, measured way.”
Meanwhile, the College Football Playoff was on track to expand (to 16 teams) in time for the 2026 season — that is, until the Big Ten and SEC staked out conflicting turf this spring.
The Big Ten favors a model based on automatic qualifiers. Dubbed the 4-4-2-2-1 format, it would allocate four automatic bids to the Big Ten and SEC, two each to the Big 12 and ACC and one to the top-ranked team from the other leagues. (The other three bids would be assigned to at-large teams, with a special pathway for Notre Dame.)
The SEC prefers the so-called 5+11 format, which allocates five spots to the highest-ranked conference champions and 11 to at-large teams picked by the CFP selection committee.
The ACC and Big 12 are closely aligned with the SEC — in fact, they proposed the 5+11 model as an alternative to the Big Ten’s concept. But their opinions have limited influence.
Speaking at the Big Ten’s football media event in Las Vegas, Petitti said an agreement signed by all the major college conferences in the spring of 2024 “set forth clearly” that the Big Ten and SEC “control changes to the format” after considering feedback from the other FBS conferences.
To expand the event in time for the 2026 season, the SEC and Big Ten must resolve their disagreement by Nov. 30. Neither side appears willing to budge.
“We obviously are not in the same place with those discussions,” Petitti said.
The Big Ten’s primary concern with the 5+11 model is rooted in the disparity in regular-season schedules. SEC teams play eight conference games while Big Ten teams play nine. Any format that relies heavily on the selection committee could work against the Big Ten, where CFP contenders are likely to have more losses than their SEC counterparts due to the additional conference game.
Before concluding his prepared remarks on Tuesday, Petitti fired a salvo across the land.
“To be clear, any (CFP) format that increases the discretion and role of the CFP selection committee,” he said, “will have a difficult time getting support from the Big Ten.”
During the question-and-answer session with assembled reporters, Petitti went so far as to explain why an 8-4 team should have access.
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“If you project that winning percentage across every other sport, I’m pretty sure you make the postseason,” he said.
Or why a team that loses three times in conference play should have access.
“If you’re 6-3 in the Big Ten, I would argue that’s a good record,” he said. “If you stumble in the non-conference, I don’t know why that would disqualify you.”
The Big Ten might support the 5+11 model if the SEC adds a ninth conference game, but SEC coaches appear opposed to taking that step.
“We have a 12-team playoff with five conference champions,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said last week. “That can stay if we can’t agree.”
What’s next? Petitti hinted it could be time for another summit.
Conference executives and athletic directors from the Big Ten and SEC have met twice in the past year to discuss the CFP and other challenges facing the industry.
“Every time when the two leagues have come together,” Petitti said, “good things have happened.”
For now, it’s a stalemate.
The conferences are far apart, the decision deadline is fast approaching, and it increasingly appears the current postseason model could survive at least another year — in football and, it appears, in basketball.
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