New CFP Formats Reportedly Will Be Explored by Group of ADs, Considering 16-32 Teams

Major changes to the College Football Playoff reportedly will be discussed by power conference commissioners.

Per Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, commissioners of the Power Four conferences (SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12) "are exploring a new working group made up of their own athletic directors," featuring two from each conference, to discuss "a variety of CFP formats."

According to Dellenger, the formats expected to be discussed range from 16 to 28 to 32 teams.

According to Dellenger, before conference commissioners can begin discussions on a new format, they must formalize a "working group of athletic directors from each of the four power leagues." Dellenger added that doing so was expected to be "further explored" in meetings of the commissioners in Chicago this week.

The Big Ten has begun "socializing a concept to grant each power conference league an equal number of automatic qualifiers in a field of more than 20 teams," according to Dellenger, though that format would also need the support of the SEC.

The College Football Playoff will consist of 12 teams again this year, but it could see expansion as early as 2026. Dellenger noted that a new format for the 2026 Playoff must be reached within the next two months, otherwise it will keep its 12-team format next year.

Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports reported Wednesday that the CFP format is not expected to change in 2026, noting that commissioners "barely discussed" the format on Wednesday.

Whatever changes come to the CFP format will clearly be dictated by the Big Ten and SEC, but getting the two conferences on the same page could be a difficult task. Dellenger reported during SEC Media Days in July that the SEC and Big Ten were "thought at first to be aligned behind a format with multi-automatic qualifiers for a single conference," but are "not aligned after all."

Time has passed since then, and they could be more in agreement now, but if not, it seems we could have a third year of the 12-team Playoff in 2026.