Big 12 wants 24-team playoff and will enforce NIL rules — if everyone else does
The Big 12 fully supports a 24-team College Football Playoff and the College Sports Commission participant agreement, commissioner Brett Yormark announced Friday.
Both were major announcements that could impact the future of the sport, depending on decisions by the other Power Four conferences.
With the 24-team CFP, Yormark said it was unanimously supported by all the football coaches and that if the format was in place last year the Big 12 could’ve had multiple teams in the CFP instead of just Texas Tech. BYU narrowly missed the field despite going 11-2 in the regular season.
“We like 24,” Yormark said at the Big 12 meetings in Frisco. “If we had a 24-team format last year we would have had five schools in. I think that’s good for the Big 12.”
While Yormark and the league support increasing the number of teams from 12 to 24, he also acknowledged there were potential hurdles that would need to be cleared.
“That would require us to give up our championship [game]. Our champion is very valuable to us,” Yormark said. “We need to roll up our sleeves, do the work, understand the economics and what that means in a 24-team format.”
While the Big 12 supports 24-teams, the SEC has yet to land on a consensus, with commissioner Greg Sankey pitching a 16-team field that has gotten pushback internally. The Big Ten supports the 24-team model, along with the ACC, according to reports.
College Sports Commission agreement
As for the CSC participation agreement, the Big 12’s signing means that member institutions agree to waive their right to sue or assist in lawsuits waged by others against the CSC’s enforcement of its NIL clearinghouse, and maintains that each school will ignore its own respective state laws if they clash with the CSC’s enforcement policies. It also forces compliance with all CSC investigations and acceptance of any penalties enforced upon them by the organization.
The agreement isn’t binding until all Power Four schools plus Notre Dame sign it. Yormark hopes the Big 12 becoming the first league to have all of its members sign the agreement sends a message.
“I can’t speak for the other conferences, but they all say they want rules and enforcement, but haven’t signed their participation [agreement],” Yormark said. “Having spent days with our board and ADs and our governance group, the Big 12 wants rules and enforcements. We want to be a leader in that area, and I think signing the participation agreement is certainly indicative of that.”
