The School Soccer Playoff will retain its four-team format to determine a nationwide champion by means of the length of its authentic 12-year plan and appears to implement a brand new format no before the 2026-27 season, CFP Govt Director Invoice Hancock stated.

"Although the result didn't result in a suggestion for an early enlargement earlier than the top of the present 12-year contract, the discussions have been useful and informative," Hancock stated. "I'm certain they'll function a helpful information for the Board of Managers and for the Administration Committee as we decide what the Playoff will seem like starting within the 2026-2027 season."

An enlargement of the CFP inside the subsequent a number of years might have been price as much as an estimated $450 million for school soccer, which might have been divided among the many conferences. The additional cash would come from creating extra playoff video games that may be nationally televised and broadcast on ESPN. The contract between ESPN and the CFP to broadcast the video games expires in 2026.

In his Friday assertion, Hancock stated the CFP's Board of Managers, made up of 10 convention commissioners and the athletic director at Notre Dame, had a video convention Thursday to verify the plans to proceed the present format for the subsequent 4 years.

"I thank the working group for its onerous work that resulted within the 12-team proposal, and the Administration Committee for its thorough and diligent job reviewing it and different potential enlargement concepts," Hancock stated.

He added, "This has been a protracted, cautious, and detailed course of that concerned many individuals contemplating a fancy matter. I'm grateful to everybody for his or her dedication to school soccer and the detailed and deliberative effort everybody put into the consideration of a special format."

The board met final month in Indianapolis across the time of the Nationwide Championship sport however left these conferences with out the consensus required to agree on an enlargement plan, Newsweek beforehand reported.

On the time, the board mentioned quite a lot of codecs, together with a proposal introduced by a CFP committee final yr to broaden the CFP to 12 groups, giving six spots to the highest-ranked Soccer Bowl Subdivision convention champions, no matter which convention. That will open the door for faculties outdoors of the "Energy 5" conferences to be represented extra typically within the CFP. The opposite six spots would go to the subsequent six highest-ranked groups within the CFP choice committee's rankings.

The reported roadblocks in final month's negotiations included what conferences ought to be capable to obtain the automated bids into the CFP and the place the video games might be performed (together with whether or not bowl video games might be used for the opening rounds or whether or not some groups will get further house video games). One other roadblock was whether or not new insurance policies must be launched to make sure the well being of the student-athletes who can be getting further video games added to their schedule.

If an enlargement plan had been reached, it possible would have been put into place in 2024, increasing the playoff for the final two years of the game's contract with ESPN.

A lot of the commissioners who're a part of the CFP board have expressed assist for some type of enlargement. The disagreement needed to do with what number of groups the format would broaden to and what the precise particulars of the expanded CFP would entail, in accordance with the Related Press.

Replace 02/18/22, 12:10 p.m. EST: This story has been up to date with extra data and background.

College Football Playoff Expansion Four Teams
The School Soccer Playoff will retain its four-team format by means of a minimum of the 2026-27 season, the CFP's govt director introduced Friday. Above, the Nationwide Championship Trophy is seen on the sphere previous to the CFP Nationwide Championship Sport between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs on January 10 in Indianapolis.Kevin C. Cox/Getty Photographs