College Football Playoff expansion remains one of the key sports business stories of the moment, and it’s no secret that one network is particularly keen to see the sport’s postseason expand further.
That network would be Fox, which, despite having the top package of Big Ten regular-season games, does not have a piece of the College Football Playoff under the current 12-team structure. And if it weren’t already abundantly clear that the network would like to see expansion in hopes of getting a piece of the CFP pie, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks gave a full-throated endorsement to double the field during a recent interview with Colin Cowherd at a Sports Business Journal conference.
When Cowherd broached the idea of playoff expansion, Shanks suggested that widening the field to 24 teams would allow better non-conference scheduling, as teams wouldn’t fear an early-season loss that would keep them out of contention. Late-season games would improve as more teams find themselves in the running for playoff spots.
“If you don’t get penalized for playing those big non-conference games early and there’s a bigger pool of teams that can get into a 24-team playoff, the schedule gets better in September. And then in November, you have more meaningful games because a lot more teams are in play to be able to get in,” Shanks said.
Crucially, any expansion past 14 teams allows Fox and other broadcasters to bid for inventory. Under the terms of the current TV deal, ESPN holds exclusive rights to the entire College Football Playoff through a 14-team format. ESPN has subsequently sublicensed some of those games to TNT Sports. However, if the playoff expands to 24 teams, as Shanks would like, CFP inventory would hit the open market.
Shanks’ comments echo the suggestions made by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who has also been an advocate for vastly expanding the playoff. Of course, Fox owns a majority stake in the Big Ten Network and controls the conference’s media rights, so there is a natural alignment there.
In February, the Big Ten detailed to its member institutions what a 24-team CFP could look like. The internal document proposed a format that includes selecting 23 at-large teams and one spot reserved for a Group-of-6 school. There would be no automatic qualifiers. However, this is just one of numerous potential formats being floated.
Expanding to 24 teams would likely necessitate some significant changes to the college football schedule. There’s already talk about shifting the start of the season up to “Week 0” by 2027, and doubling the playoff field would likely jeopardize the future of conference championship games.
With the 12-team format already locked in for 2026, the focus shifts to 2027 for any wholesale changes. On one side, Fox and the Big Ten are clearly lobbying for significant expansion, while other stakeholders remain more skeptical.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.