Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti ‘optimistic’ College Football Playoff will expand from 12 to 24

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said Thursday he’s “optimistic” the College Football Playoff will expand to 24 teams during ESPN’s exclusive negotiating window.

That window was scheduled to end Friday but Petitti indicated during his remarks at Big Ten men’s basketball media day that the deadline had been extended.

“I’m optimistic that we’ll get there, but that’s what the work is over the next few days,” Petitti said. “ESPN has got some more time in the window, and then if we get out of that window for some reason, then we will make a decision about what comes next.”

The key hurdle to doubling the size of the CPF from 12 to 24 teams is making up the revenue lost by the elimination of conference championship games to accommodate the extra playoff games, and whether ESPN - by itself or with other media partners - can put together a financial package that makes sense in the time remaining.

“I’m not going to sort of hint at a number,” Petitti said. “I think, more generally, the way to think about it is that at a 24-team format, I think at least in the Big Ten, playing a championship game is not going to happen, right? So, therefore, that is an important revenue day for the Big Ten, just as it is for the other conferences all the way across the board. Not just in the (Power 4), but the other conferences that are part of the CFP.

“So we’ve got to have a financial plan that makes everybody whole and then leads to whatever comes next. That’s always been the case. When we talked about 24, we were very careful to say that there’s got to be interest that justifies making a change like that.”

Petitti used a considerable portion of his public remarks Thursday to lobby on behalf of the Protect College Sports Act, which is stalled in the House despite a bipartisan 77-22 vote to pass in the Senate.

“We are aggressively supporting the bill,” Petitti said. “We went through a journey this past summer. The bill, as far as the conference, we think this is the absolutely best path for college athletics.”

Petitti also said the Big Ten supports the anti-expansion language in the bill and does not envision adding teams in the immediate future.

“In terms of the Big Ten, there are absolutely no discussions taking place around expansion,” Petitti said, “and there haven’t been for quite some time.”