Report: College Football Playoff executives trigger 30-day ESPN negotiating window amid expansion talks
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As expansion talks continue, College Football Playoff executives have triggered a 30-day negotiating window with ESPN, Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported. The network can present an offer during that time which executives can either accept or reject and move to an open market.
Dellenger reported for On3 last week that CFP executives were closing in on triggering the 30-day window. It’s important to note this does not mean they have made a decision on whether to go to 24 teams. Instead, it helps provide context for what expansion could look like, financially.
Whatever the College Football Playoff decides, it must come with an increase of at least $250 million in revenue, Dellenger reported. That is meant to help make up the gap for losing four conference championship games as part of the 24-team field.
ESPN has been the exclusive media rights partner of the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014. However, as the bracket grew to 12 teams, the network sublicensed some first-round games to TNT Sports, which aired across TNT, TBS and truTV. This year, TNT Sports will also get two quarterfinal games.
Last year’s College Football Playoff saw a 16% year-over-year increase in TV ratings, ESPN announced. That includes the second most-watched CFP title game on record with an average an average of 30.1 million people tuning in Indiana’s win over Miami. Of course, it’s important to note that was the first CFP since Nielsen implemented its Big Data + Panel reporting metric in September 2025.
Rumors and discussions about expansion have swirled around the College Football Playoff as multiple conferences voice support for a 24-team bracket – double the size of the current model. A Dec. 1 deadline looms for a decision for it to take effect next season.
This story will be updated.
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