Big Ten’s Tony Petitti makes clear to SEC: Agree to CFP expansion to 24 teams or format stay at 12

If you’ve been looking for more color in the never-ending debate surrounding college football’s deadline extension, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti has you covered.

As conference leaders wrapped up their spring meetings outside Los Angeles on Tuesday night, the topic of whether a move to add teams back to the playoffs was a hot topic outside of the Congressional push to ‘save’ college athletics.

Right now, commissioners from the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big Five are trading voices on the topic of expansion.

With Tony Petitti leading a 24-team college football jersey, if there is one, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is sticking to his stance on staying where we are with 12 or adding four more teams to the format.

And while it may cause some amusement, Petitti made it clear this week that we will see a 24-team format, or no change at all.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

Apparently, judging by the constant chatter on social media, college football fans are all over this and would rather see the playoff stay at 12 teams than make a big jump.

But, in this age of expensive rosters and schools struggling to keep up financially, the extra money that would come with the expansion is hard to watch.

And while this point of emphasis is already a big part of the conversation, it’s starting to turn into a major roadblock for those who would appreciate the extra dollars.

But, after winning a third straight CFP title, and Michigan winning the basketball championship, we see the Big Ten starting to act as a conference that has taken part in the current college athletics era, at least based on championships won.

Tony Petitti says the Big Ten has not discussed the 16-team CFP format

It’s also not as easy as getting everyone in a room and just agreeing to change.

On the other hand, if you can extend, the weekend of the conference title can be a big obstacle on the calendar, since we already see the end of the season in late January. But, the biggest factor is the contracts tied to these championship weekends, with ESPN and FOX paying somewhere around $160 million combined to broadcast the Big Ten and SEC championship games.

“I don’t think it works economically,” Tony Petitti said of the 16-team format, while pointing out the economic losses of conference title games.

Greg Sankey has noted many times that his conference is locked in contracts, so simply finishing the SEC title game is not possible at this point, unless there is some sort of tradeoff that could involve the CFP.

Recently, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea told OutKick that adding the playoffs to the slate of potential games in Atlanta would be one idea, with the winners earning a spot in the postseason.

“We’re going to have to give up some of the traditional end-of-the-year stuff in college football,” Clark Lea said, while also noting that he ‘thinks’ it will be a conference tournament.

What would create conference revenue if the title games were to be eliminated?

“Somehow the playoff model is included, right?” Lea offered. “Otherwise, this (season) will go on forever. I think we saw last year these ridiculous breaks.

But, there is a big line in the sand drawn between the two conferences that will make the final decision.

Tony Petitti made it clear Tuesday at the Big Ten meetings that his conference leaders did not waste time discussing the 16-team model, noting that “It’s the first year of the new deal. It’s just getting started. We could have stayed with twelve teams”, if the parties did not agree on a 24-team format.

Well, I think most college football fans would take him for that war of words, even though it wouldn’t make the commissioners outside of the Big Ten or the SEC happy, at all.

Recent changes in opinion regarding the expansion of CFP

In their public lobbying, Big Ten COO Kerry Kenny told reporters that according to their research, 80 different teams would have made the playoffs since 2014 if they had operated under 24 teams. These figures have been shared with other conferences during past CFP meetings, which is another reason we’ve seen recent pushback from other members like Jim Phillips of the ACC and Brett Yormark of the Big 12.

Don’t forget, three months ago, those two conferences wanted a 16-team format. But, when you start crunching the numbers, the investment could help with a lot of money, even if most of the Big 12 teams recently rejected private equity funds.

Dabo Swinney is right: Coaches’ opinions don’t matter in the battle to expand the College Football Playoff

As for where we stand next week, all eyes will be on SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. Although they may not agree on the expansion format of the CFP, the two “work very well together”, according to Tony Petitti.

That disagreement won’t end soon, as the Dec. deadline looms. 1, where a decision must be made.

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti speaks at the Big Ten’s football news day at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on July 26, 2023. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

Now, as college football’s eyes shift from the beaches of California to Destin, Florida, for the SEC’s upcoming spring meetings next week, it’s become even clearer how far the two sides have come in terms of compromise.

The Big Ten has come out in the open about where it stands on expanding the playoff. Either we agree with 24 teams or stay at 12. In the most dominant conference in football over the past three seasons, and with the medals to prove it, the Big Ten is starting to rise to the top.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

All the while, the SEC is sticking to their guns for now, while trying to play catch-up in terms of winning titles in this new era of college sports.

For fans, this may be a disagreement they can get behind.