Sources - 14-team College Football Playoff has 'momentum' - ESPN

The future of the College Football Playoff contract after the 2025 season remains uncertain, with executive director Bill Hancock saying last week there's a «need» for the deal to be done in the next month.

Since its inception in 2014, when it created a four-team model for a sport with five major conferences, the CFP has been unwieldy and awkward.

The only certainty has been a slow pace, turf squabbles and an unstable conference environment that has kept everything fluid.

But as Hancock's one-month deadline of mid-March looms, there's optimism and «momentum» for a 14-team playoff starting in 2026, sources told ESPN. There is an effort to come to an agreement in the coming weeks, sources said, but nothing is certain, and there are potential road blocks and expected push back — as evidenced by the CFP's own meandering path to a 12-team playoff.

The television side of the deal has already been agreed to in principle. Starting in 2026, ESPN is poised to spend an average of nearly $1.3 billion on the playoff for six seasons.

That leaves the CFP's two leadership groups — the board of managers (presidents and chancellors) and management committee (commissioners and Notre Dame leadership) to come to a decision on the format to get the deal done.

The goal is for all the commissioners to re-convene next week via video conferencing to further discuss things, sources told ESPN.

«There's a lot of pressure to get it done or stop talking about it,» one source said.

Another source summed the cautious optimism of cohesion in the group this way: «The balance in the room is how to recognize contributions of the Big Ten and SEC while also being fair and collaborative to the collective room.»

There's three major issues going forward — access