College Football Playoff to remain at 4 teams until 12-year contract expires after 2025 season

After months of lengthy debates and multiple meetings about expansion, the College Football Playoff will remain at four teams through the end of its current 12-year contract, which expires following the 2025 season, CFP executive director Bill Hancock told ESPN on Friday.

By choosing to remain at four teams for four more years, the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame have forfeited roughly $450 million in potential revenue.

On Wednesday afternoon, the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick held a critical videoconference in which they determined they could not come to a unanimous agreement on the proposed 12-team format that was made public on June 10. They made a recommendation to the CFP's board of managers, which is comprised of 11 presidents and chancellors who have the ultimate authority over the playoff, to stay with the current four-team field through the duration of the current contract.

The CFP's board of managers held a videoconference on Thursday and approved the recommendation.

«I understand, this is complex, and I recognize the conferences' positions,» Hancock told ESPN in a brief phone interview from China, where is a volunteer for the Olympics. «I've been around long enough to know that setbacks are sometimes temporary.»

Hancock said he still believes an expanded field is possible in the next contract.

«I know because I've heard the management committee and the board talk about it that they would all like to see the CFP expand, but for years 11 and 12 there were just several things that stood in the way,» he said. «Not just one thing, but several.»

In order for the playoff to expand before the current contract expires, the 10 FBS commissioners and Swarbrick would have had to