—Reporting by Andrew Marchand, Nicole Auerbach, Stewart Mandel and Chris Vannini
The future of college football may get some needed clarity this week. At least, that’s the hope of many involved in planning the sport’s much-anticipated expanded postseason.
ESPN has reached an agreement with representatives of the College Football Playoff to extend the game’s television broadcasts by six years and $7.8 billion through 2031-32. But the commissioners and president responsible for the CFP have yet to agree on anything beyond a 12-team format for the next two seasons, so several days of key meetings have been scheduled.
The agreement on terms negotiated by ESPN and CAA Evolution, the company representing the CFP, has been in effect for months, but CFP leaders still need to vote on the agreement before it can take effect. The leaders were unable to agree on the issues they wanted to resolve before signing, with some senior executives involved describing it as “a mess.”
The commissioners said they view the 2026-27 postseason as a blank slate with no particular loyalty to any format or decisions made over the past decade. But this approach means there are many things that need to be addressed, from autonomous parking to revenue distribution, and outside onlookers are eager to see progress.
Meanwhile, ESPN brass are growing impatient and, as Puck business writer John Ourand first mentioned , are considering scrapping the proposal if the CFP doesn’t act soon.
The Governing Council, university presidents and chancellors, which form the organization’s top governing body, will hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday. The commissioners who make up the CFP Governing Council (along with Notre Dame leadership) will meet in person on Wednesday in Dallas. Can they agree on the details for 2026 and beyond, the progress so far? If not, what happens?
“What’s the alternative? No playoffs?” said a source involved in the discussions. “That’s not feasible. That would be a disaster.”
One possible option is what many in college sports feared when the SEC and Big Ten announced a new joint advisory group: that college sports’ richest and most powerful conference would eventually break up. Even if only as an implicit threat, it could give both conferences a significant role in negotiations that will determine the future of college sports.
Those attending two meetings this week are bracing for a battle that could turn brutal and contentious.
“The corporate world doesn’t have the same expectations of collaborative relationships between colleagues as higher education does,” one person said.
When it comes to CFP negotiations, they conflict.
It’s been nearly three years since the four-member subcommittee first proposed the 12-team model. More than 17 months have passed since the CFP Governing Council forced commissioners back to the bargaining table and formally approved it. Yet while commissioners held dozens of meetings, mostly at hotels at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the most important issues were rarely addressed. Insiders know how bad it looks to outsiders.
“It’s embarrassing,” one committee member said. “It’s embarrassing (how long it took) to get to 12 o’clock.”
Big-time college sports have changed dramatically over the past three years, with Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC, USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten, and then the Pac-12 The conference (Pac-12) also collapsed. There has also been considerable turnover among conference commissioners; only the SEC’s Greg Sankey has been at the helm for more than three years. The Big Ten and Big 12 hire leaders with professional sports backgrounds.
Some commissioners in the room acknowledged that the powerful Big Ten banks and the SEC have the ability to chart a way forward but have not given up yet.The commissioners also said they had no idea what the Big Ten banks and the SEC were. think from the rest of the debate. Hopefully the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday will provide more clarity.
The implosion of the Pac-12 has accelerated efforts to revise the 12-team format to five conference champions and seven at-large berths for the next two seasons, compared with the original structure of one per season 6 teams. The board is expected to vote on the 5+7 plan at a virtual meeting on Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Washington State Gov. Kirk Schulz, the Pac-12 representative and the lone dissenter at the Board of Regents’ most recent meeting, is expected to propose that WSU and Oregon State University join forces in 2026 and Later receive similar revenue and voting rights as Power 4 schools. It’s unclear whether there’s a lot of support, especially since future revenue and governance plans haven’t been determined for anyone yet.
Two sources involved in the approval process said they expected 5+7 to be the starting point for debate on the format for 2026 and beyond, but admitted it might not be the final decision. Sankey has repeatedly proposed a world without autonomous berths at all.Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has suggested revisiting previously overlooked bracket sizes, such as a 16-team roster, according to people familiar with the matter Competitor.
In terms of revenue distribution, one source revealed that what is certain is that the league will be rewarded based on the number of teams that play and how well those teams advance, much like the payment model for the men’s NCAA tournament. discussion said. How much participation and victory will be worth is still up in the air, as is the starting amount allocated to each league. Currently, the Power 5 conferences split about 80% of CFP revenue, with each conference receiving roughly the same share regardless of its performance or performance in the playoffs.
A source involved in the discussions said they expect the Big Ten and SEC will fight for a larger share of revenue than is given to the Big 12 and ACC, creating further separation between the two groups. That differentiation could come in the form of the Big Ten and SEC taking a larger share of each conference or school’s revenue, sources said.
And then there’s the question of governance: Whether a newly formed joint advisory group between the Big Ten and the SEC to “provide leadership in developing solutions for a sustainable future for college sports” will push for more autonomy over sports and/or more control? enterprise? Decisions in 2026 and beyond do not require a unanimous vote as they currently do because current contracts will not be extended. The two alliances can retain support for the media agreement until these issues are resolved to their satisfaction.
ESPN “won’t wait forever” for the playoffs to decide its future. (Photo: Stephen Lu/USA Today)
ESPN has not set a deadline for the CFP to approve its deal, but a source with knowledge of ESPN’s thinking said, “It’s not going to wait forever.”
According to executives familiar with the discussions, the current contract between CFP and ESPN averages $609 million per year, but will continue to escalate over time, which is why ESPN believes that the new terms will increase by 28%. The network is currently required to pay about $800 million for each of the final two seasons of the original deal, and the four new first-round games are valued at a combined $100 million, giving it a per-game payout of about $900 million . the next two years. If the new terms are approved, the six-year deal will average $1.3 billion per season by the 2031-32 season, with annual payments increasing over the life of the contract.
ESPN also has the option to sublicense five CFP games per season, according to officials familiar with the terms of the agreement. ESPN may decide at its discretion whether to allow other networks to pay for access at any time before 2032.
While ESPN had already agreed on terms, factions within CFP leadership told some rival networks they could submit new offers following multiple reports about the deal last week, according to officials briefed on the discussions. But Fox, NBC and CBS, among others, have not made any known offers. ESPN is still considered the clear frontrunner.
Fox and NBC, the two networks most likely to be alternative destinations, have so far found prices for potential CFPs undetermined, especially given the uncertainty surrounding the format. In the wake of a “skinny bundle” partnership between ESPN, Fox Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery – where the brands will offer direct-to-consumer services for an estimated $40 to $50 per month – NBC may re-evaluate its bid, but It would be a pretty big gamble for CFP to wait to see if NBC suddenly becomes interested, especially when the network can only compete for half a show at most.
CFP is part of ESPN’s five-year plan, which includes an upcoming new bid for NBA broadcast rights, a desire to continue its relationship with the UFC and an interest in resolving the regional sports network crisis affecting Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL . CFP’s $1.3 billion in annual spending is not a sum that can be found between the seat cushions of Disney CEO Bob Iger and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro on a trip to Space Mountain.
ESPN has added the CFP broadcast rights to its books and hopes to retain all of college football’s major events as it launches a new joint venture with Fox Sports and WBD Sports this fall. The launch of standalone direct-to-consumer events in 2025 follows the network’s recent re-upgrading as home to the Division I women’s basketball tournament and most other NCAA tournaments at a cost of $920 million over eight years, giving it the potential to control all but the Division I men’s tournament The postseason for all college sports except the basketball tournament. , owned by CBS and WBD Sports. If it exits the CFP, ESPN would still retain SEC and ACC exclusivity, Big 12 broadcast rights and a college football foothold in at least most of the CFP for the next two seasons.
It is against this media backdrop that CFP leaders will meet this week to sort through the “chaos” and find a coherent path to raising the billions of dollars that Iger and Pitaro have at their disposal.
“We’re 10 months away from the start of the expanded postseason,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told reporters Competitor. “There’s a lot to do. You don’t have to flip a switch. The clock is ticking.”
(Above: Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
