The College Football Playoff on Saturday said it would “continue to have ongoing discussions with ESPN” regarding the media rights for a potential 24-team playoff after a 30-day exclusive negotiating window ended Friday.
Sources told ESPN that discussions were likely to continue into next week as the network would have time to consider a financial offer before the event moved to the open market.
“We continue to have ongoing discussions with ESPN regarding media rights connected to potential Playoff expansion to 24 teams,” the CFP stated. “The dialogue throughout the window has been constructive, and we will carry these conversations forward with ESPN as we determine the path ahead.”
In late September, leaders of the CFP met at Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois, where the idea of a 24-team field originated last February. If the group moves forward with the 24-team format, which could start as soon as the 2027 season, the Power 4 conference championship games will be eliminated.
Unraveling the contracts for those conference championship games and determining their value has been a part of the negotiations, as sources have indicated to ESPN that they are collectively valued around $200 million. The Group of 6 conferences don’t have to eliminate their championship games, and some have privately expressed a strong desire to keep them.
The second part of the negotiations is around the value of the additional games in a 24-team field. If ESPN and the CFP don’t reach agreement, the CFP can then shop the net 10 additional games to the open market, but with ESPN retaining certain matching rights. ESPN retains control of the current 11 games (including all quarterfinals, both semifinals and the national championship game), plus the first two newly added games regardless.
Sources told ESPN that no one is expecting a financial windfall from a potential 24-team playoff, but nobody wants to lose money along with their conference title games.
Under a scenario that includes a 24-game playoff, the season would begin on what is now dubbed Week 0 and end on Thanksgiving weekend. At the last in-person CFP meeting, CFP executive director Rich Clark said there ideally would be an off week following the end of the regular season before the playoff began for the health and safety of the players. That would be the first Saturday in December instead of the conference championship games — likely opening a window for the Army–Navy game.
Clark also said the second-round games would “most likely” be at campus sites, but “that’s still a part of the discussion.”
