College Football Playoff leaders plan to meet with ESPN Friday to hammer out media rights terms for a proposed 24-team bracket.
Then another waiting game begins.
The CFP’s exclusive 30-day window to negotiate directly with the network will likely expire Friday night without a deal, sources told CBS Sports. CFP officials plan to present a final financial proposal Friday, triggering a clause that gives ESPN five business days to review the numbers. The network’s response deadline falls on either October 16 or October 19, depending on whether Monday is considered a public holiday.
The sides exchanged proposals, but sources told CBS Sports they found little common ground on the numbers. Earlier this week, ESPN shared its latest offer and the two sides were still far apart, according to a source familiar with the network’s position. Still, some of those involved are confident the two sides will reach an agreement that will keep ESPN as the sole rights holder to the CFP, sources said. Otherwise, the CFP will go to the open market, where ESPN retains certain corresponding rights.
Conference commissioners are focused on making up for the financial loss of eliminating the conference title games, a necessary sacrifice to accommodate the expanded playoffs. The move gives ESPN a strategic opportunity as it evaluates the CFP bid. Since ESPN already owns the rights to broadcast the ACC, Big 12 and SEC championship games, and Disney Advertising manages the official corporate sponsorship packages for the ACC and SEC as a network partner, the network could reallocate those rights directly in an expanded CFP rights deal, industry sources said.
CFP executives expect a final figure to be about $70 million to $80 million more than the total cost of conference games (estimated at nearly $250 million). That means the CFP’s final offer to ESPN could exceed $320 million, people familiar with the process said, and were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the transactions. The $320 million or more is in addition to the current contract, which averages $1.3 billion per year.
If ESPN declines the proposal, the CFP could continue to push for a 24-team field by splitting media rights among multiple networks to meet its financial goals. Less likely, the playoffs could remain at 12 teams or expand to 16.
ESPN’s current six-year, $7.8 billion deal runs from 2031-2032 and covers up to 14 teams at no additional cost. The Big Ten and SEC each capture about 29% of CFP revenue. The ACC gets about 17%, the Big 12 gets about 15%, and the Group of Six and Notre Dame split the rest. How CFP leaders distribute new funds under a new contract could spark another fight.
The proposed model includes 23 at-large teams with a guaranteed spot in the Group of Six and no automatic bids for conference champions. CFP Executive Director Rich Clark told CBS Sports last week that an expanded first round and a new second round will be played on campus. Discussions are expected to focus on moving the Army-Navy game from the second Saturday in December to the first, a date traditionally reserved for conference championships. The playoffs would begin during the second week of the month. The New Year’s Six bowls would host the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Whatever the outcome in the coming week, a year-long cycle of debate and negotiations among conference leaders appears to be coming to an end. The Big Ten initially advocated for a 24-team field, while SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey remained firm on a 12- or 16-team structure to protect his conference’s championship game. The two leagues agreed to evaluate the 24-team model in September, shortly after Sankey issued a memo outlining the key prerequisites: compensating for lost revenue from SEC title games and mandating at least 10 regular-season games against power conference teams. The Big Ten and SEC hold ultimate authority over the format and must finalize their choice by December 1.
For now, college football waits. Again.
Gn sports
