Report: College Football Playoff considering Super Bowl-like media rights deal with multiple TV partners

The College Football Playoff is still looking to secure its next major television rights deal with the new format and expanded playoff set to debut in 2024, and there are some innovative options on the table.

According to Front Office Sports, the CFP is considering a deal that would rotate the rights between different television partners on an annual basis, similar to how the NFL handles the Super Bowl.

That would allow for competing bids, in theory driving up the profitability of such deals for the College Football Playoff.

FOS reports that discussions about rights have started with the 2026 season, with several interested parties. Per FOS, those parties “range from ESPN, Fox Sports, NBCS Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports to giant streamers Amazon Prime Video and Apple.”

ESPN has long had a strangle-hold on the college football postseason, but the sports media giant might be willing to part ways with some of the College Football Playoff package as a way to pay for other expensive rights like the NBA, FOS reports.

In any case, the bidding should make for some fascinating twists and turns as college football finds a new home for its coveted postseason.

The playoff is set to expand from four teams to 12 teams in 2024, which should help galvanize further interest in the sport with more teams theoretically capable of competing for a national championship.

The College Football Playoff will be looking to make good on that expansion with its new media rights deals, which could further boost the profile of the sport. The model of splitting rights between multiple partners is not new.

In fact, it’s something that even many leagues have copied over the years.

The SEC split its rights between CBS and ESPN for decades, while the Big Ten currently splits its rights between FOX, NBC and CBS.