Latest Rumors on College Football Playoff Bracket Expansion, How Many Teams Eyed for New Format?

Add a 20-team format to the possible expansion options for the College Football Playoff.

According to ESPN's Heather Dinich,Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger and On3's Pete Nakos, ESPN and CFP leaders are holding talks on multiple expansion options, including a 16-team and 24-team playoff. But the idea of a 20-team option is also something that could be discussed Monday:

The Big Ten has been pushing for a 24-team format starting in 2027, likely of the belief that it will dramatically increase revenue across the sport. The ACC also supports a 24-team model.

"If we find the value, I think it just changes the tone of the conversations," Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti told reporters in July.

The SEC, meanwhile, is a bit more up in the air regarding which format it will ultimately get behind.

"We don't have any idea at this point of the clear media interest in an expanded Playoff," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told reporters at his league's media days. "We do have an understanding of what happened when we went to 12."

The Big Ten and SEC are the major power brokers when it comes to the CFP, receiving 60 percent of its revenue starting in 2026. But other leagues will have a say in the proceedings as well.

"I don't want to go backwards, so I've got to figure out what kind of trade I'm making," Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told reporters. "I know what I have now with our champ game. It's our biggest tentpole moment of the year, drives a lot of good economics, a lot of value, and we're gonna have to give that up for something different. I'm very open to it, but I just need to know what that looks like. I think the economics are going to also be based on the scheduling and how we manage the schedule. I think we'll learn more about that later in the summer and heading into the fall, have a better understanding of what decision we have to make or not."

The fear regarding expansion to 24 teams, or perhaps even to 20, is that it could devalue both the regular season and conference championship games. And that isn't just a concern among some of the conferences, but also one for ESPN, which holds exclusive rights to negotiate on expansion packages.

"ESPN has been pretty clear with all of us that they'd like it to stay at 12, maybe 14, but no higher than 16," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told reporters.

Perhaps a 16-team format with four play-in berths—essentially a 20-team format—would move ESPN. There are a lot of moving pieces and, more importantly, a lot of vested interests surrounding these discussions. Perhaps 20 teams would split the difference for all interested parties.