{"id":1184287,"date":"2026-05-14T14:33:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/?p=1184287"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:33:01","slug":"sec-remains-only-conference-pushing-back-against-24-team-cfp-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/sec-remains-only-conference-pushing-back-against-24-team-cfp-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC Remains Only Conference Pushing Back Against 24-Team CFP Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Radical change has become almost a daily occurrence in today\u2019s day and age of college football,\u00a0whether it be NIL issues, the transfer portal or conference re-alignment.<\/p>\n<p>By far the most contentious situation over the last couple of years though has been the\u00a0structure of the College Football Playoff\u00a0and how a national champion is crowned. Following a decade of a four-team system, two years ago the CFP expanded to 12 teams and has provided some exciting action in those first two editions.<\/p>\n<p>Now, a push from the powers in the sport \u2014 largely television networks, a certain selection of conference commissioners,\u00a0and really anyone but the fans\u00a0\u2014 has started to snowball for the next edition to be for 24 teams, with two major power players becoming the latest to throw their support behind the proposal.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">NEW: The Big 12 and ACC support a 24-team College Football Playoff format, commissioners Brett Yormark and Jim Phillips tell <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Brett_McMurphy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Brett_McMurphy<\/a>\ud83c\udfc6<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2JkBru0gdf\">https:\/\/t.co\/2JkBru0gdf<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/X0Zw0UkGQk\">pic.twitter.com\/X0Zw0UkGQk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 On3 (@On3) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/On3\/status\/2054577068784964001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>According to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/college\/clemson-tigers\/news\/acc-big-12-commissioners-push-24-team-college-football-playoff-format\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">story from\u00a0<em>On3<\/em><\/a>, both ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips as well as Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark have expressed their support on behalf of the conferences for the laughably big field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe like 24, we want 24,\u201d Yormark said. \u201cThere are too many teams getting left out and 24 teams provides the type of access that is warranted.\u00a0\u00a0That being said, we need to do the work around the economics around a 24-team format and make sure we address any unintended consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur desire with the coaches and the ADs is 24,\u201d Phillips added. \u201cWhen you\u2019re leaving national championship-contending teams out of the playoff, you don\u2019t have the right number. We lived through it, we suffered through it with Florida State, when the field was four\u2026I 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even as the discussion has changed, the SEC remains steadfast at not expanding past 16. Greg Sankey reiterated that stance this week at the APSE Southeast Region meeting at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, with the only difference now being all three of the other power four conferences pushing for 24.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat focus hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d Sankey said of the SEC\u2019s desire for 16 teams. \u201cWe\u2019re 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\u2019re trying to inform that with research. We\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Where things go from here remain to be seen, but momentum does continue to build towards the 24-team structure. Sankey likely has the power to stop it, however, time will tell whether or not he gives into the rest of the decision makers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Radical change has become almost a daily occurrence in today\u2019s day and age of college football,\u00a0whether it be NIL issues, the transfer portal or conference <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/sec-remains-only-conference-pushing-back-against-24-team-cfp-expansion\/\" title=\"SEC Remains Only Conference Pushing Back Against 24-Team CFP Expansion\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4874,"featured_media":1087218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,91,145,10,147],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1184287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crimson-tide-bama-tide","8":"category-alabama","9":"category-auburn","10":"category-tigers-plains-war-eagle","11":"category-featured-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/dhh23123097aub_vs_mar_mcbowl.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184288,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184287\/revisions\/1184288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1087218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}