CHICAGO, IL — The future of the College Football Playoff (CFP) remains one of the sport’s biggest unresolved questions, and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti made it clear at Big Ten Media Days that the conversation is still very much alive and ongoing.
Petitti addressed the media regarding ongoing discussions about potential playoff expansion, including a 24-team format. While the Big Ten and SEC have been positioned as two of the most influential voices in the sport’s next postseason model, and emphasized that the process has not been closed off or one-sided.
“The first thing I’ll say about working with the SEC with the playoff and working with Greg [Sankey] specifically, I’ve never heard him say that he won’t do the work and consider 24,” Petitti said. “I think he’s been public about a certain preference. He has, but he’s committed himself to doing the work around all formats. And we’ve done the same thing.”
That line matters because SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has often been viewed as a central figure in shaping the next version of the CFP and spoke about it at the recent SEC Media Days in Tampa, Florida. Petitti acknowledged that Sankey has preferences, as does the Big Ten, but pushed back on the idea that either side has refused to seriously examine alternatives.
For Petitti, the question is not whether the conferences are willing to discuss real expansion. It is whether the format creates enough competitive and economic value to justify changing the structure of the postseason.
“We have strong opinions about where the right path is,” Petitti said. “I think there’s been an evolution since we were here last year about how people feel about 24 at this point.”
That evolution is notable. A year ago, much of the national debate focused on automatic qualifiers and how many guaranteed spots power conferences might receive. Petitti said the Big Ten’s position has shifted.
“We’ve made adjustments in our league,” he said. “We were focused on automatic qualifiers. We’re not focused on that anymore. We’re looking at the committee picking the field to 24.”
That would mark a significant philosophical change. Rather than building a playoff model around predetermined access, Petitti suggested the Big Ten is now more interested in a selection-committee-driven field if the postseason expands to 24 teams.
In his view, that approach could still accomplish one of the Big Ten’s primary goals that encouraging stronger scheduling with atleast nine conference games and are open to battling other conferences in the SEC, Big XII, and ACC
“We feel that ultimately will still unlock the power of scheduling that we want,” Petitti said.
Scheduling has become one of the central issues in playoff expansion. Commissioners and athletic directors want to preserve meaningful regular-season games while also avoiding a system that discourages marquee nonconference matchups. A bigger playoff field could theoretically give teams more room to schedule aggressively without fearing that a single loss could ruin a season.
But expansion also brings complications. Petitti pointed specifically to the role of conference championship games, which remain financially significant across the Power Four.
“I think the path is — you know — you’ve got to be able to do this in a way that allows you to not play championship games,” Petitti said. “There’s obviously significant economic value in our championship games across the P4. And so we’ve got to understand where that is. Find the value, then I think it just changes the tone of the conversations.”
That issue may ultimately shape the pace of any playoff decision. A 24-team format could create more inventory, more television value and more postseason access, but it would also force leaders to determine how conference championship games fit into an already crowded calendar.
Would those games remain essential? Would some conferences opt out? Would playoff byes or seeding incentives preserve their importance? Those are the kinds of questions Petitti indicated still need to be answered.
Even with the Big Ten and SEC exerting greater influence in the operational decision-making process, Petitti stressed that other voices remain involved.
“Even though the memo gives the SEC and the Big Ten more operating decision-making process, we’ve really included, on a daily basis, our colleagues in the ACC and everybody else in the CFP room,” Petitti said. “We’re trying to do this together.”
That statement was significant because one of the persistent concerns around the future of college football is whether the sport is drifting toward a two-conference power structure. Petitti did not deny the Big Ten and SEC’s influence, but he presented the playoff talks as broader than simply two commissioners dictating the terms.
“I think there’s been a lot of movement among coaches and ADs around the country that 24 is the right number,” he said. “But we’ve got to see if it has the right value and we’ve got to understand that process and how we schedule it and when.”
Although there seems to be a growing demand for 24 teams, college football administrators still need to determine whether the format is financially, logistically, and competitively viable.
There will be more to the upcoming College Football Playoff system than just the teams that qualify. Whether conference championship games are still feasible, who chooses the field, how conferences are compensated for scheduling, television rights deals, and sponsorships are all important considerations.
