KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is looking forward to this year’s first 12-team College Football Playoff.
But, he said it’s premature to talk about new formats during his opening remarks at Big 12 women’s basketball media day at T-Mobile Arena.
“We cannot discuss changing the format before we even experience the 12-team playoff for the first time this year,” he said.” Let’s be thoughtful about those discussions, but let’s see how it unfolds this year.”
He reiterated that later during a scrum with a smaller group of reporters.
“I trust my colleagues feel the same way,” he said. “Why are we talking about AQ’s and what the next iteration might be? So let’s play it out and let’s be thoughtful about it.”
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Yormark said he and his fellow A4 commissioners — the ACC’s Jim Phillips, the Big Ten’s Tony Petitti and the SEC’s Greg Sankey — talk on a weekly basis.
The discussion of how the playoff may change in two years — including the potential for multiple automatic bids for certain conferences — has become a much-talked about topic in recent months.
That only received more attention when Petitti and Sankey met with one another in Nashville earlier this month — without Phillips or Yormark.
Yormark didn’t express concern about the two conferences going off on their own or, at least for now, exerting outsized influence.
“We have a voice,” he said of the Big 12. “As I said earlier, we collaborate often as commissioners. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree. But it’s very collegial and I think we get a lot of stuff done together.”
Entering this week the Big 12 has two undefeated teams — BYU and Iowa State — who are ranked among the Top 11 teams in the country in the AP Top 25. The College Football Playoff committee will release its first rankings next month, which will certainly invite more conversation.
Right now, Yormark is focused on this year and believes the league is well-positioned for multiple bids.
“We’ve got a fighting chance,” Yormark said. “And that’s the goal. The goal was always to have multiple teams in the CFP, and right now we’re pacing toward that.”
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
