Big Ten Proposes Massive 28-Team College Football Playoff Expansion

The landscape of college football is on the brink of a big shift as the Big Ten floats a super-sized College Football Playoff (CFP) format. This expansion could at least double the current 12-team field, turning conference championship weekends into a sprawling first round.

Right now, the idea is still just that—an idea. But it’s already stirring up debate among athletic directors, conference commissioners, and a whole lot of stakeholders.

Everyone’s looking for ways to make college football more exciting and competitive. A bigger playoff could mean more teams and fans get to join the fun.

Big Ten’s Ambitious Expansion Plan

The Big Ten wants to create a tournament with as many as 28 teams, which is a massive jump from today’s 12. They just presented this plan to their athletic directors, but it’s still early days.

The idea is to turn conference championship weekends into the first round of this new playoff. That would give a lot more teams a real shot at the national title.

Details of the Proposed Format

The proposal builds in several automatic bids for each power conference to keep things competitive and diverse. The so-called 4-4-2-2-1-3 model would work like this:

• Four automatic bids each for the SEC and Big Ten
• Two automatic bids each for the ACC and Big 12
• One bid for the highest-ranked champion from non-Power 4 leagues
• Three at-large bids

This setup tries to balance out the conferences and make the playoff more competitive. Some folks think it could actually work.

Challenges and Controversies

Of course, nothing this big comes easy. The Big 12 and ACC have already raised concerns about getting pushed to the sidelines in this new format.

They’re worried it could make them look less competitive than the Big Ten and SEC. That’s a tough pill to swallow for any league.

SEC’s Stance on the Expansion

The SEC hasn’t signed on to the new championship weekend idea. Some SEC administrators say they don’t love the thought of Big Ten teams playing into a 16-team CFP bracket by facing off against each other.

They’ve floated the idea that a play-in between the SEC and Big Ten might get more buy-in. Hard to argue with wanting a little more drama.

Alternative Models and Proposals

The Big 12 has responded with its own idea: the 5-11 format. Here’s what that looks like:

• Five conference champions
• Eleven at-large bids

SEC coaches and some athletic directors seem intrigued by this model. But it’s led to a standoff between the two biggest leagues.

The Big Ten still wants automatic bids. Commissioner Tony Petitti thinks keeping more teams in the race until late November will make the regular season better, which is a fair point.

Potential Mega-Expansion

The Big Ten’s mega-expansion ideas include 28- and 24-team brackets. A 28-team field would have:

• Four first-round byes
• A second round of games played entirely at home stadiums

The 24-team version would look like this:

• Eight byes
• Two rounds of home games

These larger brackets would mean more matchups between teams from different conferences. Imagine the chaos—and the fun—of that many teams in the mix.

Implications for Television Deals and Broadcast Rights

Expanding the playoff this much would mean tearing up current conference TV deals, which already include championship games. It’d create a ton of new broadcast inventory and probably change how college football gets shown on TV.

ESPN currently owns the rights to all CFP games. But with this kind of shakeup, you can bet there’d be new negotiations and maybe some surprises.