The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff will conclude with Monday night’s CFP National Championship game between Notre Dame and Ohio State.
On Sunday, the CFP board of managers met in Atlanta to talk about potential playoff format changes.
Per ESPN’s Heather Dinich, no major decisions came out of the meeting, though it’s still possible there could be “tweaks” to the 12-team format for next season.
Any format changes for 2025 would need to be unanimously approved by the CFP board of managers.
“I would say it’s possible, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not,” CFP executive director Rich Clark said, via Dinich. “There’s probably some things that could happen in short order that might be tweaks to the 2025 season, but we haven’t determined that yet.”
Of course, the current 12-team playoff format features the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams as determined by the CFP Selection Committee.
Under the current format, the four highest-ranked conference champions are seeded one through four, with each receiving a first-round bye, while the teams seeded five through 12 play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team.
Dinich cited a source saying “nobody at this time was pushing hard for a 14-team bracket, and there wasn’t an in-depth discussion of the seeding process, but talks were held about the value of having the four highest-ranked conference champions earn first-round byes.”
“Ultimately, the 11 presidents and chancellors who comprise the CFP’s board of managers will vote on any changes,” Dinich wrote, “and some university leaders said they liked rewarding those conference champions with byes because of the emphasis it placed on conference title games.”
Right now, according to Dinich’s report, it appears unlikely that any major format changes will be made for next season.
“Following Sunday’s meeting, sources continued to express skepticism that there will be unanimous agreement to make any significant changes for the 2025 season,” Dinich wrote, “but a more thorough review will continue in the following months.”