As expected, the SEC and Big Ten proposed to change part of the 2025 post season, but at the moment their proposal is on hold.
The commissioners from the ACC, Big 12, Group of Six and Notre Dame met with the SEC and Big Ten in Dallas Tuesday to explore possible changes to the 2026 College Football Playoff (2025 season). The proposal called for a plan to alter playoff seeding.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the other commissioners and Notre Dame have asked for more data before making a decision, and have tabled any decision at the moment. The SEC and Big Ten want to eliminate the automatic first-round byes assigned to the four highest-ranked conference champions.
In the current 12-team format, the top four seeds are reserved for the four highest-ranked conference champions, which also comes with a first-round bye. Each of those four teams automatically earn $8 million as part of the CFP’s performance-based distribution model.
They get $4 million for qualifying for the event and another $4 million for advancing to the quarterfinals.
In an attempt to comprise, however, there is discussion that the four highest-ranked conference champions continue to earn that additional revenue despite not receiving a top four seed and first-round bye.
However, it appears ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark are skeptical. They believe alterations to the 2025 playoff are linked to any potential changes in 2026.
In 2026, the new six-year ESPN deal will begin, and so will the SEC’s and Big Ten control over format changes.
“You’ve got to look at it in totality,” Phillips said to Yahoo.com. “It’s one contract coming to an end and a new cycle. Those things have some linkage.”
The ACC, Big 12, and the Group of Six benefit from the first-round byes and have basically said publicly that without a comprise they will not vote for straight seeding. For any changes to be made in the 2025 playoff, there has to be a unanimous vote.
Yormark feels the 2025 vote will set the tone for the 2026 playoff and for those years after.
“You cannot look at them in a bifurcated way,” he told Yahoo.
News came out last week about the 14-team playoff format, which allows the SEC and Big Ten to get four automatic qualifiers while the ACC and Big 12 get two, the Group of Six gets one, plus one is reserved if Notre Dame if ranked high enough.
The news did not sit well with most college football fans, and Phillips and Yormark are using that to their advantage at the moment.
Phillips says it is their job as commissioners to be mindful of what the fans are telling them. This is an important decision for college football.
“For all of us, there’s been somebody before us and there will be somebody after us,” Phillips said to Yahoo. “You have to serve your constituents, but you can’t be completely oblivious and not mindful of what’s good for college football and the fans and what you’re hearing from them.”
The commissioners and Notre Dame plan to meet again in March, where he CFP staff will present the data that the ACC, Big 12 and Group of Six requested.
