College Football Playoff agrees massive $1.6 billion per year ESPN contract as opposition from Big 12 and ACC dies down

On Friday, the leaders of the nine conferences that make up the FBS division of college football (the team who play for the College Football National Championship) and Notre Dame struck a new deal for the College Football Playoffs.

The two main outcomes from the meeting were that the CFP will be expanded to 14 teams in 2026 and that a new deal with ESPN has been signed.

"As expected, CFP leaders have finalized the agreement on a new $1.3B/year contract," tweeted CFB writer Ross Dellenger.

The deal, according to Dellenger, is worth $1.3 billion a year, and the money will be spread across the conferences. It allows ESPN to be the official broadcaster of the College Football Playoffs until 2031.

However, the exact format of the playoffs is not known yet, but it will either consist of 12 teams, like from the upcoming season, or 14. Notre Dame, who don't have a conference, who cannot qualify for a automatic bid in the playoffs,will be given a automatic spot in the playoffs if they are ranked inside the top 12/14.

The new deal had some initial resistance from the Big 12 and ACC, but that died down earlier in the week to allow for the agreement to be signed. So, why were the two conferences against the deal to begin with?

---

Why were the Big 12 and ACC initally not happy with the deal?

The resistance was due to the change in the distribution of revenue throughout the conferences. The gap between powerful and weaker conferences has grown in the last few years, and the new deal does nothing to stop the same.

According to Yahoo Sports, 58% of the distributed money from the CFP will go to the SEC and Big Ten, with each conference having 29% each.

It means that nearly three fifths of the total money will go to the two most powerful conferences, and this guaranteed income will only make them more powerful.

The ACC and Big 12 will earn a combined 32%, with the final 10% going to the other, much weaker conferences. But these conferences will have to share their 10% not only with each other but with Notre Dame as well.

The deal puts the ACC and Big 12 at a massive financial disadvantage over their rival conferences, which explains their reason for their initial hesitance.

While the agreed method of distribution was decided due to the amount of teams each conference has had playing in the CFP, the deal is unlikely to create a challenger to the SEC and Big Ten, whose dominance is only set to continue.

​