ACC commissioner Jim Phillips: ESPN wants College Football Playoff to stay at 12, no higher than 16

The ACC became the third Power Four conference to publicly support the Big Ten’s 24-team College Football Playoff expansion format at their annual Spring meetings Thursday, according to On3’s Brett McMurphy. That leaves the SEC as the lone holdout toward doubling the current 12-team field.

But the SEC isn’t the only prominent voice opposing a 24-team Playoff field. In fact, ESPN — the CFP’s exclusive media partner — has reportedly expressed its preference that the Playoff either remain at 12 teams or expand “no higher than 16.”

“ESPN has been pretty clear with all of us that they’d like it to stay at 12, maybe 14, but no higher than 16,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told reporters Wednesday, according to On3’s Andy Staples.

ESPN’s expansion position is in line with the SEC’s proposal for a 16-team field format, which initially had strong Power Four support before the Big Ten began whipping votes among its fellow CFP governance committee members. Meanwhile, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey remains steadfast in his league’s preference for a 16-team field, doubling down during an appearance at Monday’s APSE Southeast Region meeting from the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Ala.

“That focus hasn’t changed,” Sankey said, per McMurphy. “We’re open to the conversation, but there are a lot of ideas out there that have to be supported with analysis and information, not speculation.

“We’re trying to inform that with research. We’ve done that, from our perspective, with 16. We want to understand, through some analytic support, games that matter in an expanded environment and games that might not matter.”

ACC, Big 12 commissioners push 24-team College Football Playoff format

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark both told On3 that their leagues prefer a 24-team College Football Playoff. 

“We like 24, we want 24,” Yormark told On3. “There are too many teams getting left out and 24 teams provides the type of access that is warranted.  That being said, we need to do the work around the economics around a 24-team format and make sure we address any unintended consequences.”

On the final day of the ACC’s spring meetings at Amelia Island, Phillips also indicated his league’s support of the 24-team model.

“Our desire with the coaches and the ADs is 24,” Phillips said Wednesday, per McMurphy. “When you’re leaving national championship-contending teams out of the playoff, you don’t have the right number. We lived through it, we suffered through it with Florida State, when the field was four.

“I know other schools have suffered for it. Notre Dame was a CFP worthy team last year and you saw what happened to the last team that got invited with Miami.”

Just a few months ago, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti was seemingly the only supporter of a 24-team playoff. The other conferences, most notably the SEC, and stakeholders in college football favored a 16-team model. However, the pendulum has swung with Phillips and Yormark the latest to back a 24-team model.

Just last week, the American Football Coaches Association also revealed its support for a 24-team playoff. Regardless of how much support there is for a 24-team playoff, there will be no changes until Petitti and Sankey agree on a future format.

— On3’s Brett McMurphy contributed to this report.