3:03 PM
The leaders of the College Football Playoff didn't rule out the possibility of expanding the current four-team field before the current 12-year contract ends.
Bob Bowlsby, the Big 12 commissioner, left the meeting just hours before the College Football Playoff National Championship Game presented by AT&T, saying the 10 FBS Commissioners voted, but " didn't even get close to unanimity."
There are a lot of issues that we have to address. I am disappointed. There are hold-outs for four, eight, and 12. It has been a difficult process.
There is disagreement in the room about revenue distribution, bowl games, and whether the Power 5 conference champion should be given automatic bids. The presidents and chancellors did not vote on the proposal presented by the Commissioners, according to Mark Keenum, the chair of the board of managers.
He said the Commissioners will meet again in a few weeks to continue their discussions, and that he remains optimistic about expansion.
"I think we're going to get there," he said. I think that our commissioners are going to move forward with an expansion for college football. Time is something that we know we need to move quickly. We still have four years to make a decision. I know that everyone arrived here in hopes that we could come to a decision, but we still have some work to do.
For three straight days, the 10 FBS Commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick met in a ballroom on the third floor of the Marriott in downtown Indianapolis, tucked away from the Alabama and Georgia fans, to watch the eighth national championship game in the CFP era.
The grandiose hotel was buzzing with fans, media, agents and athletic administrators, but few if any realized the future of the sport's postseason was being decided at the end of a long hallway by a security guard. Every year before the national championship game, the presidents and chancellors meet in a closed-door meeting and more than a dozen reporters lingered for the conclusion. It was the culmination of eight months of conversations and debates about the 12-team proposal that was made public on June 10.
Their discussions on Sunday, just hours before the biggest game of the year, continued what has been a lengthy process for fans who have long clamored for a more inclusive system.
"It's not easy," he said. If you will, a sports fan, why not 12 teams? 16 to team 32, whatever team, how big a deal is there? You get into the specifics, and I have a new appreciation for that. I've been involved in this process and I've seen all the complicated matters that need to be resolved. We're going through that. It's more than one conference or school. Conferences across the country have a stake in this.
There have been obstacles in the way of a consensus, but the Commissioners disagreed about whether the Power 5 leagues should get automatic bids. The proposal recommended the field be made up of the six highest-ranked conference champions and the next six highest-ranked teams.
Multiple sources have said that the issue of automatic qualification was raised by former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott before he left, but the idea was quickly dismissed. Kevin Warren, the Big Ten commissioner, had stated publicly that he was in favor of the playoffs, citing the difficulty of a Big Ten schedule as the reason for its champion being in the playoffs. Some from the Group of 5 argued that the NCAA designation of autonomously stature was never intended to be used as a competitive advantage. They argued privately that if the Power 5 were going to get in, the others should have the same benefit.
They did not speak to the media after their meetings on Saturday and Sunday.
After the meetings ended, Warren told a group of reporters that he felt that way. There are a lot of items that we need to work through. I feel strongly about our conference, the difficulty of our schedule, the demands of our schedule, and going back to what was originally developed. I heard that the conference champion should be given a lot of credit, and so I'm following that. That's important.
"That's why we have to keep meeting, but that's not the only issue," Warren said. We have to keep working.
Warren wouldn't say if he felt a sense of desperation, repeating repeatedly that they had to get this right. He shared with Keenum's optimism that eventually they would work out an agreement.
I can't speak for everyone else, but I can speak for myself, to be thoughtful, to keep our student athletes' health and wellbeing, mental and physical, to ask ourselves what's right for college football, and do what's right. I think we'll have the answer when we feel like it.
Since the expansion plan was revealed in June, things take time. I wasn't looking for a quick fix. I'm not saying that this was, but I think we have to be patient and do the right thing. If this was a very quick decision and if it wasn't complex, we wouldn't be performing at the level that we need to perform.
Billy Witz of the New York Times questioned the lack of transparency in the process.
"Well, mostly because they're not finished," he said.
They're still not.
Bowlsby said that there were no closer to being resolved than they were before.
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