Dreams of the College Football Playoff expanding beyond the current 12-team format are currently being put on hold while the game’s two biggest conferences dance around finding the ideal format for qualification.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey opened the 2025 SEC Media Days by giving insight into the future of the conference and its influence on the future format of the College Football Playoff in 2026 and beyond, despite expansion talks following rapidly on the heels of the move to 12 teams for 2024, which was a relative success though not without its wrinkles.

The main gripe involved the imbalance of matchups as the four highest-ranked conference champions received first-round byes, throwing the like of Boise State and Arizona State into tilts against stronger opponents who had played in the preceding round. In a tweak to the format, it has now been agreed that, whilst the top five conference champions will get guaranteed spots in the Playoff, first-round byes will now be allocated according to overall ranking by the Playoff Committee.

Whilst this format is locked in for 2025, the future of the CFP lies in the hands of the two most powerful conferences, the SEC and the Big Ten, as determined by a memorandum of understanding that essentially states that they can decide what alternative formats will look like — as long as they both agree. The problem is that, at present, they don’t. The SEC and Big Ten have until 1^st December to come to terms on an agreed format. If they can’t reach an accord, the system will remain the same as the current 12-team iteration for 2026.

The SEC wants a 16-team playoff with, as is currently in place, the champions of the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and the highest-ranking of the remaining six FBS conference champions getting automatic spots, and the rest of the playoff field being made up of at-large selections determined by the Committee.

However, the Big Ten will not agree to this whilst the SEC only plays eight conference games in comparison to their nine. The SEC is currently deliberating a nine-game season, but is far from agreeing upon the switch. Should they decide to remain with the status quo, the Big Ten’s counter-proposal is for a 16-team format that allocates four automatic bids to the Big Ten and SEC and two each to the Big 12 and ACC. A final automatic bid would go to the top champion of the remaining conferences, with the remaining three spots being allocated at-large, according to ESPN’s Dan Wentzel.

“I don’t believe there’s anyone looking to swap their conference schedule and its opponents with the SEC’s … be it eight or nine [games],” Sankey said, addressing the possibility of increasing to conference slate.”We’re going to continue to evaluate whether increasing our number of conference games is appropriate for us. And as I’ve said repeatedly, understanding how the CFP will evaluate strength of schedule and strength of record is critically important in our decision making.”

When asked about what an ideal 16-team playoff format would look like, Sankey deflected, preferring instead to focus on the discussion.

“I think, last week, there was some misunderstanding communicated about a memorandum of understanding,” he noted. “So, in that memorandum of understanding, the top five conference champions have a role. Unless you’re going to go tear up the MoU, which maybe some other people want to do because of their concerns about the decision-making authority, [which] very clearly in that memorandum of understanding is granted to the combination of the SEC and Big Ten. Ultimately, we have to use that authority with great wisdom and discretion. But unless people want to tear it up, we’re going to have 5 plus 7, 5 plus 9, 5 plus 11…”

Sankey clearly wants to put his conference in the strongest possible position, dipping into gambling parlance as he explained his stance.

“As I understand ‘doubling down’ — that was one of the phrases last week [and] part of the gambling experience, as I understand — you always want to have a really good set of cards. You want to have a good hand to play, right? I think we have the best hand to play. We’re going to operate consistent with the MoU. There’s an allocation of those five spots, and I guess we’ll continue to debate whether expansion beyond 12 is appropriate for the College Football Playoff.”

Sankey was also asked what would be required to avoid a stalemate between the SEC and Big Ten and how close they were to moving forward.

“Well, I would never give away how close we are to doing something in a meeting,” he smiled, “but I think Tony [Petitti, Big Ten Commissioner] and I spoke four out of five days last week. Jim [Phillips, ACC commissioner] and I either talked on the phone or communicated three out of five days last week.

“We had a different view coming out of Destin around the notion of allocations, if you will, and I think you’ll probably hear that again from our coaches. The Big Ten has a different view. That’s fine. We have a 12-team playoff, five conference champions. That could stay if we can’t agree. I think there’s this notion that there has to be this magic moment and something has to happen with expansion and it has to be forced. No. I think, when you’re given authority, you want to be responsible in using that authority. I think both of us are prepared to do so.

“The up-front responsibility in this, maybe where some of the confusion lies, is we have the ability to present a format or format ideas, gather information, see if we can all agree within that room. We don’t need unanimity. Ultimately, if not, there’s a level of authority granted to the Big Ten and the SEC together, but there’s a lot to that. It’s not that you just show up and pound your fist and something happens. I hope that that type of narrative can be reduced, but we’ll keep talking. We all talk a lot. Probably too much sometimes, right?’

Both conferences currently seem to be unwilling to back down from their respective stances and, following Sankey’s appearance at the SEC Media Days, a source informed On3’s Brett McMurphy that ‘there’s no way Tony [Petitti] moves off four AQs’. Given that knowledge, It appears that there is a lot of deliberation yet to take place before a further expanded format is finally agreed on, and it will be interesting to see if any progress has been made when the Big Ten Media Days kick off in Las Vegas on Tuesday (22^nd July).