Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby says College Football Playoff expansion for 2024 ‘in some jeopardy’

Bowlsby is one of the founding officials who helped create College Football Playoff, and he’s been commissioner since 2002. Now his comments say a potential expansion for 2024 may not happen as planned.

The “college football playoff rankings” is a topic that has been in the news recently. The Big 12 commissioner, Bob Bowlsby, says that expansion for the College Football Playoff for 2024 might be in some jeopardy.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby says College Football Playoff expansion for 2024 'in some jeopardy'

ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – If a deal on a new structure isn’t struck soon, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby believes extending the College Football Playoff as soon as the 2024 season is “in risk.”

Bowlsby told reporters Saturday before the Big 12 championship game between No. 5 Oklahoma State and No. 9 Baylor that expansion negotiations have stalled to the point where there are less prospects of establishing a new model before the current 12-year deal expires after the 2025 season.

The CFP management committee, which includes ten conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, convened in Dallas early this week but could not agree on a plan to extend the playoff from four to 12 participants.

“Well, simply for practical reasons, year 11 [2024] is definitely in peril at this time,” Bowlsby said, “just because there are excellent and acceptable things you have to do in order to host the games.”

“I believe it’s also possible that we won’t be able to do it for year 12 [2025], and then we’ll have to figure out what we’ll do for years 13 and onwards, since the CFP, for all intents and purposes, ends [after 2025]. There are no contracts that tie us beyond 2025-26, and there are no operational agreements that bind us beyond 2025-26 “he said

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Currently, moving ahead on a playoff concept requires unanimous agreement from all 11 members of the management committee, which would still need permission from the university presidents and chancellors who oversee the CFP.

The commissioners and presidents are slated to meet again around the national championship game in Indianapolis on Jan. 10, although the commissioners might meet sooner.

Commissioner George Kliavkoff of the Pac-12 indicated Friday night before his league’s championship game in Las Vegas that the group was beginning to look beyond the existing arrangement and that the next incarnation of the playoff may not need permission from the so-called Group of 5 conferences.

“I don’t believe we need 11 yes votes to get a satisfactory solution for college football. If we can discover that answer, we can concentrate on whether we can find it for ’24 and ’25 as well “Kliavkoff said.

“‘What is the group that needs to agree on a model?’ I believe you begin by asking. We may then invite the rest of the group to join us. So it’s simply a new way of thinking about who gets to decide what the model looks like.”

Bowlsby underlined that complete agreement is required to expand before the present contract expires. “There is no future contract,” he says, referring to the period beyond 2025.

If the plan to grow by 2024 fails, Bowlsby said the company might start again with a new model, but that isn’t a guarantee.

“Because we completed a very comprehensive vetting on nearly any model you can think of, I expect that a lot of the work done by the working group will serve as a foundation for that. As a result, it’s most likely the foundation of it — but you never know “he said

One of the stumbling blocks to growth has been determining which conferences are assured automatic participation for their champions.

Commissioner Kevin Warren of the Big Ten was the first commissioner to officially propose allowing all Power 5 conference champions and just the highest-ranked champion from the other five leagues to compete.

Warren told SiriusXM this week, “I’m a strong believer in the automatic qualifier for the Big Ten league and the other Power 5 conferences.”

Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick, and Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson recommended that the six highest-ranked conference champions from all 10 FBS leagues, as well as six highest-ranked at-large selections, make the playoff in Bowlsby’s 12-team proposal unveiled in June.

Automatic admittance should not be confined to Power 5 winners, according to a group of five conference commissioners, led by Mike Aresco of the American Athletic Conference.

Sankey said earlier this week that he still supports the six-best-champions plan presented by the subgroup. One of the reasons the group avoided automatic entry for only the Power 5 was stated by Bowlsby on Saturday.

“We discovered that the amount to which we anoint ourselves in privileges, including automatic access, is generally the extent to which we are summoned before Congress or sued,” Bowlsby added. “We recommended six highest-ranked conference champions for legitimate reasons, and those reasons haven’t changed.”

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