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The Atlantic Coast Conference supports the Big Ten’s effort for a 24-team playoff, commissioner Jim Phillips said Wednesday.
Speaking at the end of three days of spring meetings at a posh resort in northeast Florida, Phillips said ACC coaches and athletic directors reached a consensus on the desire to duplicate the current college football playoff model.
“When you leave out the teams and schools that are competing for the national championship out of the playoffs, you don’t have the right number,” Phillips said. “We lived it.”
Phillips noted that undefeated Florida State was excluded from a four-team CFP field in 2023 and that Notre Dame was left out of last year’s 12-team model.
“Notre Dame was a CFP-worthy team this year; they just were,” he said. “The other reason is there’s a lot of investment going into the sport of football and college athletics… If you’re going to ask presidents, chancellors and boards of directors to continue to invest in their football programs, it’s really important that they have hope, that they have a chance at the beginning of the season to make the playoffs.”
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips formally endorsed the Big Ten’s plans for a 24-team College Football Playoff. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Coaches and administrators have clamored for greater access to the lucrative and potentially job-saving playoffs. They point out that there are only 12 playoff spots for 138 teams in the Football Bowl subdivision, a minuscule percentage compared to many other college sports or major professional leagues.
“The more the merrier,” Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said. “The more opportunities there are to bring in teams and provide opportunities for student-athletes.”
Phillips also said his television partner ESPN “has been pretty clear with all of us that they would like to keep it at 12, maybe 14, but no more than 16.”
No matter how much the ACC and other leagues support a 24-team playoff, the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference have sole power to determine the future of the CFP. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and Greg Sankey of the SEC have the final say on any expansion.
The SEC is pushing to expand to 16 teams, with an emphasis on at-large bids. The Big Ten supports 24 teams and initially wanted multiple automatic qualifiers from each conference.
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The playoffs expanded from four to 12 teams in 2024, and after decision-makers failed to reach an expansion deal, the CFP will use the same model for the 2026-27 season. The discussion has major implications for the college football schedule, including the start and end of the season and the role of conference championship games in generating money.
An NCAA committee last month recommended that FBS teams play a 12-game schedule over 14 weeks starting in 2027, with the season beginning on the Thursday of what is now called Week Zero and ending the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Last week, the American Football Coaches Association proposed changes to the schedule that included eliminating conference championship games, reducing scheduled bye weeks from two to one and reducing the minimum number of days between games to no less than six.
Sankey stood his ground earlier this week on expanding to a 16-team CFP.
Sankey said any changes in college athletics must come with proper research, something he believes the SEC has provided in support of an expansion from four teams to 16. For Sankey, moving to 16 teams is an unknown, and a big question is whether an expanded playoff would offset an SEC title game that generates more than $80 million a year for the powerful conference.
The current CFP contract includes a Dec. 1, 2026 deadline to make changes for next season.
Information from The Associated Press.
