Big Ten floating idea for 24- or 28-team CFP, sources say

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The Big Ten has considered an idea of a massive expansion of the College Football Playoff that would grow the postseason to 24 or 28 teams, sources told ESPN.

While the idea is in the very early stages, the proposal eliminates conference title games and offers a large number of auto bids for all four power leagues, sources said.

For example, in the 28-team model, the Big Ten and SEC would each get seven auto bids while the ACC and Big 12 would each receive five. There would be two auto bids for the non-Power 4 conferences and two at-large teams.

The 28-team format would put 20 playoff games on campus, which would accentuate the success of that from last year's CFP. The CFP committee would seed the field and pick the at-large teams.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti ran the idea by his conference Wednesday, sources said, and that it has begun being shared by others.

The 2025 season will be the second year of the 12-team playoff. College football leaders have been discussing expansion to 16 teams over the past year, but disagreement over the number of at-large teams vs. auto bids has been a sticking point.

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