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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - In the midst of Big Ten Media Days, Tuesday may have brought the strongest statement of them all, coming from Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren.
Earlier this year, the debate was whether or not to expand the College Football Playoff from the current four-team field to potentially eight or even 12. But, it was Warren and presidents from the ACC and Pac-12 that vetoed the potential expansion.
And according to reports from Sports Illustrated, Warren was among the most vocal to keep it as is and not expanding to a potential 12-team playoff.
"The Big Ten and the Pac-12 were the two most vocal for expansion when this process started almost three years ago,” CFP board chair Mar Keenum said. “They have some issues that are unresolved, so they're not going to vote to approve the plan."
On Tuesday, however, the messaging sent by Commissioner Warren was anything but a veto.
"I'm 100 percent supportive of College Football Playoff expansion," Warren said at Big Ten Media Days. "I'm excited that we now will have some new members in the room who will have very creative ideas."
The playoff committee announced in February, shortly after the news broke about the expansion veto, that it would continue with the current format until the end of the 2025 season, when the current contract expires.
The Big Ten has had at least one team represent the conference in the four-team playoff in six of the eight years that the playoff has been running. Of those eight years the Big Ten has also had seven teams ranked inside the top-12 in the playoff rankings.
With the addition of UCLA and especially USC, Warren knows it is extremely advantageous for the Big Ten to be active in the expansion talks.
"I'm excited," Warren said. "We have meetings coming up in September and October to talk about these issues. I'm 100 percent supportive for College Football Playoff expansion."
Part of the issue with the initial expansion talks was with the Pac-12 partnership with the Rose Bowl and having specific media rights on New Year's Day for that game. There was fear what would happen if the playoff expanded, causing more games to overlap in that timeframe. With the loss of two teams already and rumors regarding numerous other teams from the Pac-12 potentially looking elsewhere, there could be an opening for the committee.
With all of the potential added revenue that comes with eight additional teams in the playoff, and more potential media rights to come with, Warren thinks it's a no brainer but does understand protecting non-playoff related bowl games.
"I feel very strongly that we need to open it up to have multiple media partners, that we need to have from the college football standpoint," Warren said. "We need to take a holistic view. We need to make sure we protect some of the critical bowl relationships."
In the end it's going to come down to how exactly you rank the 12 teams -- if 12 is the number the playoff committee is going for. Who gets in? Who is ranked where? Is the conference champion an automatic qualifier?
"What is that right number? We'll figure it out. I'm confident we'll get College Football Playoff expansion resolved," Warren said. "... So as we work through all these, whether it's automatic qualifier, whatever the case may be, I'm confident as we get these new individuals in a room, get these issues on the table, that we'll be able to reach some resolution and again make sure we ask ourselves the right questions for the right reasons at the right time for our student-athletes and our fans, but I look forward to the day we can expand the College Football Playoff, and I'm confident that it will happen."
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