Pete Thamel explains what next steps are for College Football Playoff expansion

It appears that college football is still pretty far away from the expansion of the College Football Playoff. Despite optimism in recent months, talks have come to a crushing stalemate.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke down what he believes to be the next steps to get the ball rolling again on expansion.

“I think it’s going to come down to the presidents basically doing what the commissioners can’t do right now,” Thamel told Paul Finebaum. “It’ll come down to the presidents making some compromises and taking a stand.

“My understanding, from talking to sources, is that the presidents are ready to do that. Father (John) Jenkins from Notre Dame made that fairly clear, from my understanding, during the joint sessions. I think it’s just going to rise above. College commissioners don’t do anything without the presidents. … I think the compromise will have to come down to the presidents, like for automatic qualifiers. … There are ways to mitigate the issues, it’s confounding that they haven’t found ways to get there.”

After the national title game, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby let his displeasure bubble to the surface as talks stalled on expansion.

Bowlsby, a member of the subcommittee that recommended a 12-team CFP format over the summer, said the commissioners have yet to agree even on expansion itself. The finer points of revenue distribution, the criteria for automatic qualifiers, and how to include the bowls are far from hammered out.

Finebaum calls CFB a ‘wreck’ over stalled expansion

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum talked on The Opening Kickoff on 105.5 WNSP radio after the National Championship, where he called the sport a “wreck” due to the inability to come to an agreement on CFP expansion.

“No, it’s not,” Finebaum said on if seeing the same teams in the College Football Playoff over and over is good for the sport. “College football is a wreck at the moment. I know if you’re a Georgia fan, you don’t want to hear that. You’re celebrating and you should be. But to me, the story out of Indianapolis wasn’t Georgia winning. It was the fact that the commissioners met all weekend long and came out of it in worse off than they were when they started.”

There were hopes of a potential 12-team playoff being approved and in place within the next season or two. But to Finebaum, the decision makers’ inability to compromise has resulted in a major step back when it comes to hopes of expansion.

“There are so many divisions in the sport,” Finebaum added. “There are so many obstacles to progress. Exactly six months ago, we were all giddy. We were two years away from a 12-team playoff. And we’re nowhere near that right now because everyone is more concerned about their own fight. When I was interviewing (SEC Commissioner) Greg Sankey at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday night, I felt like I was interviewing one of the party leaders in Congress. These guys just refuse to compromise on any point. It is really shameful to watch the leaders of college sports in action.”

On3’s Jonathan Wagner contributed to this report.