ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips addressed a number of topics when he took the podium Wednesday morning at the 2022 ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, including College Football Playoff expansion.
Phillips said the conference “continues to be supportive of an expanded College Football Playoff.” The league voted against expansion last year, he said, because issues such as the new FBS calendar need to be addressed.
“As you know, the ACC took what we believe was a necessary stance regarding last fall’s CFP proposal,” Phillips said. “This was based on what we feel we must all come together to address before rushing into a new model — the implantation of a 365-day calendar, health and safety, and several other items that you know well. Engagement is ongoing with our schools and my fellow commissioners to chart a path forward prior to the expiration of the current CFP contract in 2026. We had two great meetings in April and June, and I’m confident that our concerns and others’ concerns will be addressed, and a new model with greater access will ultimately come to pass. We will do our part in the ACC to make it happen, but there’s some more work to be done.”
Phillips indicated that progress on expansion has been made, saying that CFP commissioners have made “great progress” in their last two meetings this year.
Phillips expects there may be news at the end of August regarding progress toward a new CFP structure, though he said there’s a lot of things to discuss.
“We’re making progress with the Transformation Committee, and I think you’re going to see something at the end of August that’s pretty substantial, with more work to be done,” Phillips said. “I think these things are walking along together, along with a new NCAA president. I don’t expect us in September, when we get together, to line up and announce a new CFP structure.
“But I think we made great progress over our last two meetings, both in April and in June, and everybody’s motivated to come together. So, I don’t know that there’s this separation now with those things. We’ll see. But I think the health and safety, the 365-day calendar review… We’ve talked about access, automatic qualifiers… there’s a lot of things to discuss. But those things, again, I would tell you I do not think have really separated that much.”
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