A holy war might be brewing between ESPN and Fox Sports.<\/p>\n
The College Football Playoff governance committee is meeting this week in Dallas to address a whole host of topics facing the sport\u2019s postseason. And as has been the case for much of the past decade, playoff expansion will be at the forefront of discussion.<\/p>\n
No final decision is expected from this week\u2019s meetings, but that doesn\u2019t mean the myriad competing stakeholders aren\u2019t making their preferences known through media leaks. On Tuesday, Yahoo\u2019s Ross Dellenger issued a report chock-full of nuggets<\/a> about the state of play in college football, particularly regarding the sport\u2019s postseason. In the report, Dellenger outlines growing support for a 24-team playoff format among \u201cat least three of the four power conference commissioners\u201d and Notre Dame.<\/p>\n One can surmise that the lone holdout is the SEC. The conference\u2019s commissioner, Greg Sankey, has been outspoken in his opposition to a 24-team playoff, especially given that such an expansion would likely eliminate conference championships, a game the SEC holds dear and is valued at around $80 million annually. Sankey has previously voiced support for a 16-team playoff format<\/a> that would preserve conference championship weekend and, in his estimation, maintain the value of the regular season.<\/p>\n The SEC\u2019s exclusive media rights partner, ESPN, appears to be on the same page. Per Dellenger, \u201cESPN executives have privately dismissed the notion (of a 24-team playoff).\u201d ESPN currently holds broadcast rights for each game in the 12-team format through 2032, a portion of which it has sublicensed to TNT. According to prior reports, ESPN is contractually awarded all playoff games up to a 14-team format. However, if expansion extends beyond 14-teams, which seems destined to happen, those additional games could hit the open market.<\/p>\n