CFP leaders face serious questions over expanded 24-team field - ESPN

Leaders of the College Football Playoff took a deeper dive into conversations about a 24-team field at a meeting Wednesday in Denver, but there are still more questions than answers about the logistics of what the expanded field would look like if it began in 2027, executive director Rich Clark told ESPN.

«We did have some discussion about 16 [teams], but I will say that the majority of the discussion was about 24,» Clark said. «I think 16 is — from some of the operational elements — we probably have more answers for 16 because it's a bit closer to 12 and what we're doing now, so that drove the discussion more to 24 because it is so different and there's so many other variables that we have to consider.»

Clark said that ESPN executives attended the meeting along with industry consultants but that they didn't put any dates on paper to see how a 24-team field would play out on the 2027 calendar and «didn't actually get into numbers as far as revenue goes.»

One of the biggest questions the commissioners have had is whether revenue generated from a 24-team playoff could compensate for the loss of revenue from their conference championship games, which would likely be eliminated to make room for more playoff games in a 24-team field.

«We more talked about scheduling and what the different options would look like, and that's really important for us because there's a few questions that the commissioners had that we need to be able to answer for them,» Clark said. «I think they gave us some clarity and some guidance to help us to really get to some of those answers.»

If the format is going to change in time for the 2027 season, the decision needs to be made by Dec. 1.

The Big Ten and SEC have the bulk of control over the future