Pac-12 (2.0) football: Key elements of 2026 season on hold as College Football Playoff negotiations drag on
LAS VEGAS — With its membership set and media rights deals in place, the rebuilt Pac-12 finally has clarity on the proper timing to announce its 2026 schedule, bowl affiliations and format for the conference championship game.
Those essential details will be revealed … sometime after Jan. 23.
Settle in, folks. The conference plans to wait for College Football Playoff executives to establish a format for the 2026 season, and their Dec. 1 deadline was recently pushed back eight weeks.
“We’re trying to be really deliberate around what we’re trying to accomplish,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould told the Hotline this week at the Sports Business Journal’s forum on college sports at the Aria Resort and Casino.
“Getting our champion into the CFP, which is where we think we should be every year, is one of the priorities. It’s not the only priority. It’s one of the priorities.
“Delivering high quality games is important both for our media rights partners and for our fans. There are all kinds of considerations based on what we’re trying to accomplish, but I don’t know how you decide that without resolution on the CFP.”
Executives have attempted to resolve the CFP’s future for most of the past year.
The SEC and Big Ten control the format but are obligated to consult with the ACC and Big 12 primarily, as well as the remaining FBS conferences.
At one point, discussions focused on a 16-team field, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti disagreed on the format:
— Sankey favors the so-called 5+11 model in which there are five automatic bids for the highest-ranked conference champions and 11 at-large teams.
— Petitti proposed the so-called AQ model in which 13 of the 16 bids are awarded automatically, with the Big Ten and SEC receiving four each and the ACC and Big 12 getting two, plus one for the highest-ranked champion from the remaining leagues.
After a months-long stalemate, Petitti returned to the negotiating table with a 24-team playoff proposal, but it has not gained much traction.
The commissioners faced a Dec. 1 deadline to inform ESPN, the exclusive broadcast partner, of any changes for the 2026 event.
In late November, the CFP and ESPN agreed to delay a decision until as late as Jan. 23, the Friday after the national championship.
The Pac-12 will have a voice but not a vote in the expansion decision.
“To me, the decision is about what we’re trying to accomplish,” Gould said. “And for us, it’s fair and reasonable access.
“The optimal outcome is, I believe, the five highest-ranked champions continue to get in, and there needs to be a reasonable number of at-large berths so programs that have earned it on the field have a shot. What does that mean? The 16-team format is something we’re interested in.”
Meanwhile, Pac-12 officials are nose-deep in the nuts and bolts of the reconstructed conference.
Merton Hanks, the chief of football operations, has modeled dozens of schedules with both seven and eight conference games.
There are options for the conference championship, as well: The Pac-12 could use the home-host format or stage the game at a neutral site. (Discussion with potential hosts are ongoing.)
Conference executives also have engaged in numerous discussions with potential bowl partners. (This is the final year of the current bowl contracts.)
But everything is on hold for the CFP. Once that falls into place, it shouldn’t take the Pac-12 long to fill out the details of its inaugural season.
“I would expect that after we have clarity on the CFP piece, we would be in position to make decisions pretty quickly,” Gould said.
“It’s super important because we have two great new head coaching hires (Oregon State’s JaMarcus Shephard and Colorado State’s Jim Mora), and six of our eight teams are going to bowls. They want to start selling season tickets.”
Whatever the Pac-12 decides, it plans to remain nimble. The CFP could remain at 12 teams for 2026, then expand to 16 or 24 teams starting in 2027.
Or it could expand to 16 teams for next season, and then grow again (to 24) for 2027.
“It’s not just the format,” Gould said. “It’s any further tweaking to selection criteria, which there has been a little of in recent years.
“So, it delays our decision. We want to have all the information available to us, to the extent we can.”
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