Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti used his platform on the opening day of the conference’s media day event Tuesday in Chicago to continue to heavily lobby for the expansion of the College Football Playoff to a 24-team format.
Petitti made it clear that the Big Ten can remove its conference championship game as early as next season should the playoff expand. Petitti also mentioned the Big Ten would figure out the details with Fox, which has a television contract for the conference championship game.
“The faster it goes, the easier it will be,” Petitti said, via ESPN. “There’s some things you have to unwind, there’s no doubt about that. I think we’re committed to doing that.”
For CFP expansion by 2027, there needs to be an agreement on the terms from the other power conferences, particularly the SEC, which has remained adamant about preferring a 16-team field at the current time. Petitti is optimistic all sides can come together to reach a consensus.
“I think there’s been a lot of movement among coaches and ADs around the country that 24 is the right number, but we have to see if it has the right value, and we have to understand that process and how we schedule it and when,” Petitti said.
ESPN reported it’s unlikely that a verdict will be reached by August, despite a scheduled meeting that month of the CFP leadership. It’s possible that the annual meeting at Big Ten headquarters in September could at least get the process moving.
The current CFP format is a 12-team format, which consists of the conference champions from the Power 4, along with the highest ranked Group of 6 team and the remaining highest ranked teams.
This format would see eight teams get byes — up for the four that currently do — and add an additional round.
When asked on Tuesday if the CFP doubling in size would devalue the regular season, Petitti spun it the other way.
“The idea is keeping as many teams in contention for as long as possible,” Petitti said. “Play as many meaningful games for as long as you can. Secondly, the format creates all kinds of incentives. If you think about a 24-team playoff, right, a bunch of teams are going to be ranked between 16 and 24 that are just trying to make sure they’re in. You’re going to have teams playing until the very end to see if they’re in. You’re going to have teams playing to see if they can get a home game. So, every game is going to matter because your seeding is always going to be determined by somebody else.”
