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DALLAS, Texas — The School Soccer Playoff administration committee concluded one more prolonged, closed-door assembly on Thursday nonetheless undecided about when the playoff will broaden to 12 groups, however inspired it might probably nonetheless occur as quickly as 2024, CFP government director Invoice Hancock mentioned.
After about six hours, Hancock emerged from an all-too-familiar stuffy, windowless convention room within the DFW airport with few solutions about if the format can change earlier than the beginning of the 2026 season. The present 12-year contract expires after the 2025 season, and whereas there aren’t any stable deadlines, the window to vary the format in time for the 2024 season continues to shrink shortly.
“It is true time isn’t on our aspect, however we’ve not given ourselves a deadline,” Hancock mentioned. “It is extra essential to get it proper than to get it quick.”
There was a way of optimism getting into Thursday’s assembly – a number of sources had mentioned they hadn’t heard any good the explanation why the playoff could not broaden earlier – however there was additionally a realization that figuring out the dates for the video games is a big problem that persists, particularly with campuses internet hosting the first-round video games. The commissioners proceed to battle with conflicts surrounding the educational calendar, together with December graduation and ultimate exams, plus discovering TV home windows that do not compete with the NFL.
“It has been an enchanting course of, as a result of each time you flip over one stone, you begin tripping different points,” mentioned Mid-American Convention commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, who chaired Thursday’s assembly.
There have additionally been repeated considerations about how the New 12 months’s Six bowl video games would determine into the rotation. The 4 quarterfinal video games and two semifinal video games could be performed in bowls. The CFP must come to phrases on a TV contract for the first-round video games. (ESPN would retain management, by current bowl and playoff offers, of the quarterfinals, semis and title sport till the present contract expires following the 2025 season.)
“All people desires to get this achieved in 11 and 12 if we will,” AAC commissioner Mike Aresco mentioned, referring to the eleventh and twelfth years of the present contract. “The prevailing view within the room is can we get it achieved? It is not as if now we have a number of opposition to it.”
If the CFP can implement the brand new format in time for the 2024 season, it might garner roughly $450 million in gross income. Income distribution continues to be a restricted a part of the dialogue, because the Huge Ten and SEC are poised to turn out to be the sports activities’ first 16-team superconferences, with a possibility to must extra illustration within the new mannequin.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey mentioned it is only one piece of the puzzle.
“We have not spent a number of time on income distribution,” he mentioned. “We’ve got a mannequin that has totally different numbers in it. That is on the market some place.”
There was a distinct vibe following Thursday’s assembly, in that there was a way of being nearer than ever to a long-awaited decision. The commissioners’ incapacity to initially attain a consensus is what drove the 11 college presidents and chancellors who’ve the last word authority over the CFP to hijack the method this previous summer time and swiftly vote in September to broaden the sphere to 12 groups in 2026. Sometimes, the commissioners decide the plan and ship it to the presidents to rubber-stamp.
This was the commissioners’ third in-person assembly since then the presidents asserted their authority over the format and charged the administration committee with understanding the small print to implement it as quickly as 2024. The 12-team mannequin contains the six highest-ranked convention champions and 6 at-large groups. The rankings of the groups will proceed to be decided by the CFP choice committee, which can stay largely unchanged.
The 4 highest-ranked convention champions can be seeded one by 4 with every receiving a first-round bye. Groups seeded 5 by 12 will play one another within the first spherical on both the second or third weekend of December. The quarterfinals and semifinals can be performed in bowl video games on a rotating foundation, and the championship sport can be at a impartial website, as beneath the present four-team format.
A renewed sense of urgency started this previous spring, when it turned clear there was nonetheless a chance that Atlanta and Miami might host the nationwide championship video games on totally different dates. In mid-August, the CFP introduced Atlanta will host the nationwide championship sport in 2025, adopted by Miami in January 2026. Hancock mentioned on Thursday Atlanta and Miami are keen to accommodate an expanded playoff earlier. The CFP simply has to inform them the dates.
“There is a feeling, a will to strive,” Sankey mentioned. “That may remains to be there.”
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