College Football Playoff provides update on timeline of expansion

Consider it dead for now.

After a lot of talk and traction on expanding the College Football Playoff earlier in the year in an abbreviated fashion, even potentially prior to the end of the current contract, those in charge released a statement on Friday tabling the idea. Instead, according to the CFP Board of Managers, the current four-team model will continue until the contract is up.

“The Board of Managers has accepted a recommendation from the Management Committee to continue the current four-team playoff for the next four years, as called for in the CFP’s original 12-year plan, said Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the CFP committee in a statement. “At the same time, the Board expects the Management Committee to continue its discussions of a new format that would go into effect for the 2026-27 season.

“Even though the outcome did not lead to a recommendation for an early expansion before the end of the current 12-year contract, the discussions have been helpful and informative,” continued Hancock. “I am sure they will serve as a useful guide for the Board of Managers and for the Management Committee as we determine what the Playoff will look like beginning in the 2026-2027 season.

“I thank the working group for its hard work that resulted in the 12-team proposal, and the Management Committee for its thorough and diligent job reviewing it and other possible expansion ideas. This has been a long, careful, and detailed process that involved many people considering a complex matter. I am grateful to everyone for their dedication to college football and the detailed and deliberative effort everyone put into the consideration of a different format. I know the four-team event will continue to be successful.”

What this means is get used to much of the same where we really have an “and-one” and not a playoff. You’ll probably see the same set of teams contend for inclusion which will only make the calls for expansion even louder. And you can more or less blame the whole Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC as the reason for the pause. That move halted a lot of traction other conferences had towards getting something done.

You can bet at some point that expansion will happen, and it sure sounds like 12 teams might be the number, but we’ll have to wait longer than most want it appears.

Ho-hum.

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