Pac-12 Athletic Directors Have Concerns About 12-Team Playoff: Report
Pac-12 Conference athletic directors appear to have some concerns about approving the 12-team College Football Playoff later this month, per a report in the San Jose Mercury-News.
The reporter, Jon Wilner, talked with several Pac-12 athletic directors about the upcoming meeting on Sept. 28, one that could lead to approval of the expansion of the CFP.
Several athletic directors went on the record in the report.
“Until there are solutions to the riddles, I’m not comfortable moving forward,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told Wilner. “For the conference and for Utah, (expansion) seems better, but there are critical questions.”
Wilner’s story goes through many of those critical questions. While all of the athletic directors quoted in the story supported expansion, they also expressed trepidation due to all of the other headwinds in college sports at the moment, including Name, Image and Likeness, college realignment and the transfer portal.
Plus, there are issues specific to the Pac-12, including how their connection to the Rose Bowl Game will be handled in a new playoff format, along with its own impending television negotiations (something other conferences, including the Big 12, must deal with in the next few years).
There isn’t much time to get those questions resolved as the process is pacing now. As Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff tours Pac-12 campuses and talks with athletic directors, presidents and others, the proposed playoff model needs the approval of all 11 university presidents that make up the CFP committee — that includes one president from each conference and Notre Dame’s president.
That approval could come on Sept. 28, and widely believed that committee is considering approval of the 12-team format (either beginning in 2023 or 2026) or halting the process and reassessing the format.
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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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