Expansion talks drag on as CFP, Rose Bowl seek resolution
By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
Efforts to expand the College Football Playoff dragged on after officials from the CFP and Rose Bowl failed on Wednesday to announce a resolution to what appears to be the last issue.
The university presidents and chancellors who oversee the playoff are seeking a final decision from Rose Bowl game organizers about whether they will alter their contractual agreements for the 2024 and ’25 seasons and pave the way for expansion.
The Rose Bowl is scheduled to have a traditional Pac-12-Big Ten matchup in those seasons. To have a 12-team playoff, instead of the current four teams, the Rose Bowl would need to host a semifinal in its traditional Jan. 1 time slot.
Rose Bowl officials have asked the CFP to guarantee it will remain on New Year’s Day in the new format for 2026 and beyond.
The original 12-year contract the CFP has with ESPN expires after the 2025-26 season. CFP officials had being unwilling to make any binding commitments about the College Football Playoff beyond 2025.
It has been 18 months since the CFP unveiled a plan to expand to 12 teams that involved the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large selections regardless of conference to compete for the national championship over four rounds, starting in mid-December.
The conference commissioners who manage the playoff could not come to the required unanimous consensus on the format last year, and in February expansion for the 2024 season was pronounced dead.
The university presidents and chancellors who have the final say about the postseason system stepped in during this past summer and revived the expansion plan, directing the commissioner to try to implement it by 2024.
Expansion of the playoff in the final two years of its current contract is expected to bring in an additional $450 million in gross revenue to the conferences.
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