College Football: CFP Punts on Expansion in 2026
As the Indiana Hoosiers are still trying to figure out where to display their most unlikely but well-deserved national championship trophy, the eleven honchoes who comprise the College Football Playoff committee announced what the majority of college football insiders knew: a 12‑team bracket, unchanged, unexpanded will greet the 2026 season.
Friday marked the official deadline for the CFP management committee — the 10 FBS commissioners plus Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua — to inform ESPN of any format shake‑ups for next season.
So no, the playoff won’t expand in 2026. But the politics, the money, and the maneuvering behind the scenes are only getting louder.
Despite the rumors and incessant talk, no such shake‑up materialized.
CFP executive director Rich Clark, a retired Air Force Lt. General, delivered the expected confirmation in a statement so neutral it could referee its own press conference, explained that months of “ongoing discussion” had produced precisely zero consensus. The decision to stand pat, he said, will give the committee “additional time” to evaluate the 12‑team model.
In other words, let’s all watch another season play out and pretend we might do something bold later. Clark emphasized that everyone agrees the current format has brought more excitement and broader access. However, there is not enough agreement to actually change anything — at the present.
That harmony evaporated the moment the conversation turned to the future. The commissioners met Sunday in Miami, where the two power brokers who must jointly approve any format change — Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey — once again found themselves on opposite sides of the expansion canyon.
Neither blinked.
The SEC continues to champion a 16‑team playoff with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at‑large bids, a setup that would give the selection committee even more influence. The Big Ten, never one to be out‑ambitioned, has floated a field as large as 24 teams with multiple automatic bids for the sport’s top leagues.
With visions that far apart, the 2026 bracket never stood a chance of growing.
Still, the expansion debate is not going anywhere.
Under the CFP’s media contract, commissioners face a Dec. 1 deadline each year to notify ESPN of any changes for the following season. That leaves roughly 10 months for more posturing, more proposals, and more meetings that end exactly where they began.
This year’s deadline was already pushed back nearly two months in a desperate attempt to find common ground in an effort that predictably fizzled out.
Even without expansion, the CFP is undergoing significant changes. Automatic bids will now go to the champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC, regardless of ranking, plus the highest‑ranked Group of 6 champion. Notre Dame, if ranked inside the top 12, will also receive an automatic bid, potentially bumping a higher‑ranked at‑large team. It’s a reshuffling that reflects the sport’s new power map more than any philosophical shift.
The money is being rearranged, too.
The CFP is ditching its performance‑based bonus model that handed Miami and Notre Dame $20 million apiece in recent seasons in favor of fixed revenue shares. The Big Ten and SEC will each receive about 29 percent of total CFP revenue, the ACC 17 percent, the Big 12 15 percent, and the Group of 6 conferences a collective 10 percent.
So no, the playoff won’t expand in 2026. But the politics, the money, and the maneuvering behind the scenes are only getting louder.
Expansion is far from dead.
It is just taking the scenic route while enjoying the off season.
READ MORE from Greg Maresca:
America’s Cultural Chasm: Family v. Individualism