5:47 p.m. ET
-
Pete Thamel
-
Heather Dinich
CloseESPN Senior Writer
- College football reporter
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Graduated from Indiana University
LOS ANGELES — Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff is so bullish about expanding the College Football Playoff that he told ESPN on Friday that he potentially sees a format change before current contracts expire after the 2025 season.
“I’m really confident we’re going to expand the College Football Playoff,” Kliavkoff told ESPN. “It wouldn’t actually surprise me, once we’ve agreed on the format, if it happens before the end of the current term. Once you agree with the format, why not do it?’
Kliavkoff’s comments contradicted the idea floated by the College Football Playoff Board of Governors in February that the format would not expand until a new format was in place for the 2026 season. Others expressed skepticism about the schedule, given that a decision on expansion will have to be made in the coming months. The next CFP meeting is in mid-August via Zoom, sources told ESPN, and there is another scheduled a month later.
Kliavkoff’s optimism builds on the tenor of the CFP’s most recent meeting in Park City, Utah, last month. “[It was] the most productive CFP meeting I’ve ever attended. I’m incredibly optimistic that we will indeed get there.”
2 Connected
Could this lead to a new format before the end of the current contract? This would require unanimous approval, which is always difficult in a room with so many dynamics and stakeholders.
“We are closer than ever to agreeing on a format,” Klyavkov said. “The lack of agreement on the format is preventing us from doing it quickly instead of slowly.”
“I said that when we originally met about this. Once you agree on a format, you can incorporate it into the existing contract. If we agree on what it looks like after the existing contract, why not try to do it faster?”
There was discussion in the fall to expand the playoff field as early as 2024 or 2025, but the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12 ultimately voted against it in January and February for various reasons. For that to happen before the current 12-year contract expires after the 2025 season, CFP executive Bill Hancock told ESPN, “many, many details will have to be ironed out.”
“We’ll have to see,” Hancock said. “There are many more conversations to come.” Hancock said commissioners haven’t talked about expanding the playoffs since June, and presidents and chancellors haven’t discussed it since May.
“The board and the steering committee will discuss the format when the time is right,” Hancock said. “I feel like the commissioners were more open to change and collaboration when they met in June than they were in February.”
Hancock said the June meeting did not include any talk of a potential 16-team format and the conversation was more philosophical than it was “in the weeds” about a format. The commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick initially liked the concept of awarding the top four teams with a bye in a 12-team format — something that would be lost with a 16-team field.
Swarbrick didn’t rule out an accelerated schedule for a new CFP, but said it would be difficult to expand the field during the current contract.
“I think the calendar is the obstacle,” Swarbrick said. “I can see that there is an intention, but it is not easy. A lot depends on the size of the playoff.”
Swarbrick was one of the authors of the original 12-team proposal, along with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, outgoing Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson. Swarbrick said the reason they chose 12 over 16 was because “we loved the chaote.”
“We liked how it rewarded the teams,” he said, adding that any discussions he’s been involved in about the 16-team field up to this point have been “very conceptual.”
Sankey was not immediately available for comment.
Kliavkoff added that he did not go into detail about the impact of the TV contracts. One of the likely steps in the next playoff, as it evolves from four teams, will be multiple television partners. ESPN currently owns all rights to the four-team playoff. Fox would be the expected favorite to join ESPN in the bidding, as the CFP aims to potentially model its postseason after the NFL’s and have multiple rights holders.
What that formally looks like has yet to be decided, but the idea of a potential 16-game playoff continues to be entertained. Kliavkoff mentioned that the dynamic in the room is changing now that Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren is expected to scale back his request for automatic qualifiers, one of the key obstacles to the 12-team playoff. He also mentioned one of the ACC’s issues — a 365-day calendar review — is ongoing and likely to be resolved.
“I support expanding the College Football Playoff,” Klyavkov said. “I don’t have any particular problems between 12 and 16. I understand the pros and cons.”
He added: “It will be interesting now that I think Kevin is dropping his claim for automatic qualifications. I’m ready to get in the room and listen.”
That 16-team idea likely brings with it calendar issues, as Swarbrick mentioned, and the likely debate over whether the leagues would eventually drop their conference title games in favor of saving that weekend for the first weekend of the playoffs. That will likely require a lot of contractual gymnastics and financial accommodation for those whose league title games cost the most money.
But the idea of, say, Ohio State playing Michigan to close the season, then playing USC in the league title game and starting a potential four-game playoff from there is scary. Kliavkoff said he plans to keep pushing for the Rose Bowl even after the Big Ten poached two of the Pac-12’s most valuable brands. The Rose Bowl has long been a contract between the Big Ten and the Pac-12.
“Three hours every three years for the Rose Bowl,” Klyavkov said. “We are 100 percent committed. It is important. It is part of the history and tradition of college athletics. When we start throwing away traditions for money, that’s when we get into trouble. It’s not a big task.”
Kliavkoff did not respond to quotes from Warren at Big Ten media days that the two had not spoken since the Big Ten broke up the three-league union by taking two of the Pac-12 schools.
“I’m not talking about who I’ve talked to and who I haven’t talked to,” he said.
Add Comment