The Big Ten did not just outline a larger playoff. It laid out a completely different postseason.
As ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported, the conference circulated an internal document detailing a 24 team College Football Playoff format that would eliminate conference championship games, use a 23 plus one selection model and add an extra week of on campus playoff games before the traditional bowl rotation.
In that projection, a 2025 version of the format would have included seven SEC teams, six from the Big Ten, five from the Big 12, three from the ACC, two from the Group of Six and Notre Dame.
It is bold. It is calculated. It also leaves three very real questions unanswered.
1. What happens if conference championships disappear?
The proposal removes league title games entirely.
The SEC Championship Game and Big Ten Championship Game are not just games on the calendar. They print money. Networks pay enormous rights fees for that weekend. Conferences generate millions through tickets, sponsorships and host city partnerships.
The Big Ten appears willing to trade that in for playoff expansion.
The SEC may not be.
At some point this becomes a negotiation. If giving up a championship game costs tens of millions annually, the SEC is going to want to be made whole through the playoff revenue model. Expansion only works if the math works for everyone involved.
Then there is the competitive piece.
Without a title game, crowning a conference champion becomes a tiebreaker exercise. We just watched how messy that can get. Multi team ties. Strength of schedule debates. Head to head scenarios that require explanations longer than the standings themselves.
If championship games go away, conferences need simple and transparent tiebreakers. Not layered formulas that leave fans confused and administrators defensive.
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It would not be surprising if the Power Four would ultimately consider adding a tenth conference game to hopefully reduce the chance of complicated tiebreakers altogether.
If you remove the on field decider in December, the regular season math has to make sense.
2. How does the television calendar actually work?
A 24 team playoff is not just about expanding the bracket.
It is about fitting games into a reality where the NFL already dominates large parts of the week.
Round One would feature eight games. Round Two would feature eight more. If the CFP wants fans to meaningfully watch those matchups, it likely cannot stack more than four on a single Saturday.
That pushes games to weekdays.
Sunday and Monday are largely unavailable because of the NFL. Thursday is complicated by Thursday Night Football. That leaves Wednesday and Friday alongside a capped Saturday slate.
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If early round playoff games stretch across Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, December changes. What used to be a weekend event becomes a midweek postseason run.
Television is not background noise in this conversation.
It is the structure.
3. What about Army and Navy?
This is where the calendar gets complicated.
The Army-Navy Game has long owned an exclusive Saturday window in December. It stands alone. It closes the regular season. It feels separate from everything else.
A 24 team playoff likely occupies that same weekend.
Now imagine playoff selections are announced at the end of Thanksgiving weekend. Teams would have about 12 to 14 days to prepare for an elimination game.
That makes sense competitively.
But what if Army Black Knights or Navy Midshipmen sit at No. 22 or No. 23 entering that rivalry game?
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Do you delay the bracket and make every other playoff team wait? Issue conditional bids?
None of that feels fair to teams trying to book travel and begin preparation.
At the same time, telling the academies they cannot realistically access the playoff because their showcase game conflicts with opening round logistics does not sit well either.
If that second Saturday in December becomes playoff territory, Army and Navy may need to consider alternatives. A night game on the final weekend of the regular season. Maybe an August game to open the college football season, or possibly something aligned with Veterans Day.
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None preserve the America’s Game mystique perfectly. But expansion forces choices.
The Big Ten’s proposal is bold. It is strategic. It is thoughtfully constructed.
It is also unfinished.
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