The College Football Playoff management committee met Thursday at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport for the third time since the board of managers decided to expand the playoff to 12 teams.
But the committee seems no closer to deciding whether that expansion will happen in time for the 2024 season.
“They made progress, but they’re not finished,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock told reporters. “It is true that time is not on our side, but we haven’t given ourselves a deadline.”
Hancock added that Atlanta and Miami, which in August agreed to host the national championship games in January 2025 and 2026, are fine with changing the dates of those title games in service of expanding the playoff sooner.
MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said “every time you turn over one stone, you start tripping on other issues,” which include fitting first-round games on campuses around those schools’ final exams and December commencement ceremonies.
Other options on the table include beginning the 12-team format in 2025 or 2026.
The CFP has been a four-team tournament since its inception following the 2014 season. The 12 teams in the revamped playoff will be the six highest-ranked conference champions and the six highest-ranked at-large teams.
–Field Level Media