There is a "groundswell of support to expedite" CFP expansion before the end of the initial 12-year contract with ESPN in '26, and many higher-ups now "support an eight-team format," according to Nicole Auerbach of THE ATHLETIC. Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said expansion is an "appropriate thing to begin thinking about." Auerbach notes there have been a "number of informal conversations involving college football’s most important power brokers in recent weeks and months." The "growing concern is that a system designed to nationalize the sport of college football" is being "undermined and regionalized with teams from the Southeast regularly playing each other." Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez, who served on the CFP Selection Committee from '14-16, said, "Everyone has the same feeling; expansion is inevitable. When you can do it, and I think we need to serve more people. I think four was the right way to get started." He pointed to certain conferences not being represented. Alvarez: “Two years in a row, we don’t have anyone represented. The Big 12’s been the same way. The Pac-12’s been the same way.” Auerbach notes '20 is the midway point of the ESPN deal and it would "make sense to expand then, after the six semifinal bowls have all hosted an equal number of times." West Virginia President Gordon Gee: “We now have five years’ worth of experience. There’s nothing wrong with hitting the button and saying, let’s take a look at what’s working and what’s not.” However, CFP Exec Dir Bill Hancock said, “There have not been any conversations in our meetings with commissioners or presidents about expanding or starting to think about a new format. There will come a time for that at some point, as we get toward the end of the 12-year contract” (THEATHLETIC.com, 12/12).
