CHICAGO (AP) 鈥� The Big Ten Conference would do away with its championship game if college football adopts a
Commissioner Tony Petitti says that鈥檚 a worthwhile sacrifice to get his preferred postseason format.
鈥淲hen we make this decision as a league 鈥� are we going to support 24 鈥� that鈥檚 where you start the conversation,鈥� Petitti said Tuesday as the Big Ten opened its football media days. 鈥淎re you willing to give up your championship game to have the expanded playoff?鈥�
Pettiti mentioned this possibility back in May as he stepped up his push to double the 12-team playoff. He conceded a 24-team College Football Playoff would mean no Big Ten championship game, which has been held annually in Indianapolis since 2011.
鈥淵eah, I think it鈥檚 pretty much we won鈥檛 be playing a championship game if we go to 24,鈥� he said.
The bid to expand the playoff to 24 teams also has the support of the , and Notre Dame. The remains a holdout.
During the last week, commissioner Greg Sankey cited the risk to conference championship games as one potential drawback of a 24-team format. The SEC was the first major conference to adopt a league championship game and held its first one in 1992.
Petitti noted the potential drawbacks a team would face when it enters the playoff after competing in a championship game.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of conflicting incentives,鈥� Petitti said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still very powerful to win a Big Ten championship, and teams play hard. They want to win that game. But you鈥檙e talking about a pretty tough journey to go all the way through and where you are playing next, and what happens if a team loses that game, they don鈥檛 get a bye, and they have to go play relatively quickly.鈥�
Petitti also outlined his reasons for wanting a 24-team playoff rather than merely expanding to 16. He said it would assure that more late-season games carried postseason implications.
鈥淭he format creates all kinds of incentives,鈥� Petitti said. 鈥淚f you think about a 24-team playoff, right, a bunch of teams are going to be ranked between 16 and 24 that are just trying to make sure they鈥檙e in. You鈥檙e going to have teams playing until the very end to see if they鈥檙e in. You鈥檙e going to have teams playing to see if they can get a home game. So every game is going to matter because your seeding is always going to be determined by somebody else.鈥�
While some SEC coaches such as Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Tennessee鈥檚 Josh Heupel have countered Sankey鈥檚 position by saying they鈥檙e intrigued by a 24-team playoff, Big Ten coaches seem universally behind Petitti.
鈥淲hen you get a room of 50 coaches or whatever we have in this conference together, it鈥檚 hard to get everybody to be unanimous on something,鈥� Southern California’s Lincoln Riley said. 鈥淭his is something that our room has been unanimous on.鈥�
Riley said the lack of a conference championship game would make this more like the NFL model, where people simply pay more attention to the national championship than anything else.
鈥淚 know obviously those (conference championship games) are huge revenue drivers for these conferences, which matters in this day and ae maybe a little bit more than it used to,鈥� Riley said. 鈥淏ut to think that that could not be made up when you start adding in some of those playoff games鈥�. I have a hard time believing that couldn鈥檛 be recouped, that these conferences can鈥檛 just decide the regular-season champion, have your tiebreaker structure or whatever and let鈥檚 get into the playoffs.鈥�
The standoff between the Big Ten and the SEC represented the latest disagreement between college football鈥檚 two heavyweight conferences, but Petitti downplayed their off-field disagreements. He pointed out that he and Sankey had spoken over five separate times Tuesday morning while awaiting to Congress鈥�
Petitti even said he鈥檇 like to see more SEC-Big Ten matchups similar to Ohio State鈥檚 trip to Texas and Oklahoma鈥檚 visit to Michigan this season.
But that couldn鈥檛 stop the Big Ten from crowing a bit about getting the upper hand the last few years.
As Petitti spoke to reporters, the last three College Football Playoff trophies were to his right, representing the national titles won by Big Ten members in 2023, in 2024 and in 2025. Petitti noted the Big Ten also has the reigning champions in men鈥檚 basketball ( ) and women鈥檚 basketball ( ).
Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who coached in the SEC at Arkansas from 2013-17, offered the line of the day by saying SEC schools 鈥渒ind of want to live in 2005 forever.鈥�
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