| Today we continue with our SCHEDULE NOTES – covering the AFC East and AFC North. |
| NFC EAST |
| NEW YORK GIANTSJohn Harbaugh fires up Giants fans. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com: On Monday night, the Giants held their annual Town Hall event. For the first time arguably since the days of Bill Parcells, the team has a good head coach who is also a clear and direct (and at times blunt) communicator. Art Stapleton of USA Today has posted a snippet from the event that will be music to the ears of Giants fans. Here’s the question to John Harbaugh, from one of the folks in the crowd: “We turn on the TV on Sundays, and then we face the Eagles and the Cowboys, and a lot of the time they just kick our butts. How confident are you, Coach, that going into this season we’ll go into those Dallas games, those Eagles games, and those Commanders games, and we’ll take them down?” “I could care less about what’s happened last year, the year before that, or ten years before that,” Harbaugh said. “Honestly, I don’t give a crap about any of it. Not one bit. All I care about is tomorrow’s practice. Because if tomorrow’s practice is the way it’s supposed to be, that’ll be one more step in the direction of being a good enough football team to kick the Cowboys’ ass.” And with that, the room exploded in cheers. “That’s our job,” Harbaugh added. “That’s our job to be good enough to do that. We gotta make ourselves good enough to do that. That’s our responsibility.” And the countdown to Week 1 continues. With the Cowboys coming to town to face the Giants in Harbaugh’s first game of his first year in New York. While the proof will be in the proverbial pudding, Harbaugh has the fans more excited than they’ve been in a long time. |
| NFC WEST |
| SEATTLEWhen we saw that WR JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA was upset about the engraving on his trophy for AP Offensive Player of the Year we figured they had misspelled his name. ESPN.com: Jaxon Smith-Njigba apparently has another reason to feel slighted — and this time, he’s speaking out about it. Smith-Njigba, the NFL’s reigning Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year, posted a video to his Instagram account that shows his trophy was mislabeled. The video, posted late Monday as an Instagram story, shows the Seattle Seahawks star holding the trophy which says: “2025 Defensive Player Of The Year.” “I really want to expose them,” Smith-Njigba says in the video. “It’s getting disrespectful, guys.” Smith-Njigba also pointed out a smaller typo on the trophy, where it appeared there was no space between the words “The” and “Year.” While pointing to the apparent “TheYear” mistake on the label, Smith-Njibga says: “One word? Man.” The video includes a caption in which Smith-Njigba writes: “It’s getting disrespectful at this point.” Although he didn’t say it in the video, Smith-Njigba potentially was referring to a similar gaffe at the February NFL Honors event, when his name was mispronounced multiple times by comedian Druski, who announced the award. Smith-Njigba posted a second Instagram story that included a photo of himself with a caption that read: “Just keep the award at this point. Leave it in the history books tho.” |
| AFC NORTH |
| BALTIMORESCHEDULE NOTESFour primetimes and the Sunday afternoon trip to Rio show up on a somewhat muted Ravens schedule…They are not featured on a single conventional Sunday DH game and play in 11 early windows…They get an unusual 11-day gap (Thurs-Mon) in Weeks 9-10 with back-to-back home Primetime games…Divisional games in Weeks 6 and 7, then none until the last 4 (Week 15). Baltimore Ravens 1 Sep. 13 at Indianapolis Colts 1:00 PM CBS 2 Sep. 20 New Orleans Saints 1:00 PM CBS 3 Sep. 27 vs Dallas Cowboys (Rio de Janeiro) 4:25 PM CBS 4 Oct. 4 Tennessee Titans 1:00 PM CBS 5 Oct. 11 at Atlanta Falcons 8:20 PM NBC* 6 Oct. 18 at Cleveland Browns 1:00 PM FOX 7 Oct. 25 Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 PM CBS 8 Nov. 1 at Buffalo Bills 1:00 PM CBS 9 Nov. 5 Jacksonville Jaguars (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ 10 Nov. 16 Los Angeles Chargers (Mon) 8:15 PM ESPN 11 Nov. 22 at Carolina Panthers 1:00 PM FOX 12 Nov. 29 at Houston Texans 1:00 PM CBS 13 BYE 14 Dec. 13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 PM FOX 15 Dec. 20 at Pittsburgh Steelers 1:00 PM CBS 16 Dec. 27 Cleveland Browns 1:00 PM CBS 17 Dec. 31 at Cincinnati Bengals (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ* 18 TBD Pittsburgh Steelers TBD TBD |
| CINCINNATISCHEDULE NOTESThe Bengals start in the early window on Sunday for their first seven games, then it gets interesting…Joe Burrow goes to Spain in Week 9, then Primetime action in Weeks 10 and 11…And a FOX DH game with Kansas City in Week 14 and the rivalry game with the Ravens going right up to midnight on Prime…The Bengals are done with the Steelers by Week 10, but don’t play the Browns for the first time until Week 13. Cincinnati Bengals1 Sep. 13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 PM FOX2 Sep. 20 at Houston Texans 1:00 PM CBS3 Sep. 27 at Pittsburgh Steelers 1:00 PM CBS4 Oct.4 Jacksonville Jaguars 1:00 PM CBS5 Oct. 11 at Miami Dolphins 1:00 PM FOX6 BYE7 Oct. 25 at Baltimore Ravens 1:00 PM CBS8 Nov. 1 Tennessee Titans 1:00 PM CBS9 Nov. 8 vs Atlanta Falcons (Madrid) 9:30 AM NFLN10 Nov. 15 Pittsburgh Steelers 8:20 PM NBC*11 Nov. 23 at Washington Commanders (Mon) 8:15 PM ESPN12 Nov. 29 New Orleans Saints 1:00 PM CBS13 Dec. 6 at Cleveland Browns 1:00 PM CBS14 Dec. 13 Kansas City Chiefs 4:25 PM FOX15 Dec. 20 at Carolina Panthers 1:00 PM FOX16 TBD at Indianapolis Colts TBD TBD17 Dec. 31 Baltimore Ravens (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ*18 TBD Cleveland Browns TBD TBD |
| CLEVELANDSCHEDULE NOTESThe Browns avoid being a Sunday-only team by hosting the Steelers on Thursday in Week 4…A three-game road trip to cities in the Mississippi River drainage basin (Nashville, Pittsburgh, New Orleans) is part of four of five on the road…But then the Browns don’t leave Cleveland from November 8 to December 20…Four home games and a bye!…Then three of four on the road…Five homes on FOX, but all 8 road games on CBS. Cleveland Browns 1 Sep. 13 at Jacksonville Jaguars 1:00 PM CBS 2 Sep. 20 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 PM CBS 3 Sep. 27 Carolina Panthers 1:00 PM FOX 4 Oct. 1 Pittsburgh Steelers (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ 5 Oct. 11 at New York Jets 1:00 PM CBS 6 Oct. 18 Baltimore Ravens 1:00 PM FOX 7 Oct. 25 at Tennessee Titans 1:00 PM CBS 8 Nov. 1 at Pittsburgh Steelers 1:00 PM CBS 9 Nov. 8 at New Orleans Saints 1:00 PM CBS 10 Nov. 15 Houston Texans 1:00 PM FOX 11 BYE 12 Nov. 29 Las Vegas Raiders 1:00 PM FOX 13 Dec. 6 Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 PM CBS 14 Dec. 13 Atlanta Falcons 1:00 PM CBS 15 Dec. 20 at New York Giants 1:00 PM CBS 16 Dec. 27 at Baltimore Ravens 1:00 PM CBS 17 Jan. 3 Indianapolis Colts 1:00 PM FOX 18 TBD at Cincinnati Bengals TBD TBD – – -The Browns are getting a cash infusion from a private equity firm that already owns a slice of two other NFL teams. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com: The NFL has opened the floodgates for private-equity funds to acquire minority interests in its franchise. One firm, which currently has a piece of two teams, is poised to add a third. Via Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, owners are expected to vote today on the proposed sale of three percent of the Cleveland Browns to Arctos. Arctos is one of the firms with advance approval to invest in teams. Already, Arctos owns a piece of the Chargers (eight percent) and Bills (10 percent). It’s an odd dynamic, to say the least, for the same group to have an ownership stake in multiple competing businesses. Ultimately, however, they only compete on the field. When it comes to the relentless pursuit of cash, they’re all in it together. The valuation isn’t currently known. To use a round number, a three-percent chunk at a $10 billion valuation would result in a $300 million payment. The sale provides the Browns with a nice infusion of cash at a time when they’re getting ready to build a new stadium. The private contribution for the facility exceeds $1.755 billion. |
| PITTSBURGHSCHEDULE NOTESThe Steelers were in Ireland last year, now they go to France…They are done with both Ohio teams by Week 10, then don’t meet the Ravens for the first time until Week 15…Four Primetime games, but none with the Ravens…The Battle of Pennsylvania is a doubleheader game on CBS in Week 11. Pittsburgh Steelers1 Sep. 13 Atlanta Falcons 1:00 PM FOX2 Sep. 20 at New England Patriots 1:00 PM CBS3 Sep. 27 Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 PM CBS4 Oct. 1 at Cleveland Browns (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ5 Oct. 11 Indianapolis Colts 1:00 PM CBS6 Oct. 18 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 PM CBS7 Oct. 25 vs New Orleans Saints (Paris) 9:30 AM NFLN8 Nov. 1 Cleveland Browns 1:00 PM CBS9 BYE10 Nov. 15 at Cincinnati Bengals 8:20 PM NBC*11 Nov. 22 at Philadelphia Eagles 4:25 PM CBS12 Nov. 27 Denver Broncos (Fri) 3:00 PM AMZ13 Dec. 6 Houston Texans 8:20 PM NBC*14 Dec. 14 at Jacksonville Jaguars (Mon) 8:15 PM ESPN*15 Dec. 20 Baltimore Ravens 1:00 PM CBS16 TBD Carolina Panthers TBD TBD17 Jan. 3 at Tennessee Titans 1:00 PM CBS18 TBD at Baltimore Ravens TBD TBD- – -Bridge or roadblock? Mike DeFabo of The Athletic on the Steelers re-upping with QB AARON RODGERS: When future Hall of Fame signal caller Aaron Rodgers and the QB-desperate Pittsburgh Steelers came together last offseason, everyone involved anticipated it would be a one-and-done season that would push both sides closer to their next chapters. For Rodgers, Pittsburgh presented an opportunity to finish his career with a stable franchise after two tumultuous years with the New York Jets. For the Steelers, who were underwhelmed by the 2025 quarterback draft class, Rodgers provided a potential bridge to what was supposed to be a much stronger 2026 crop of QBs. The best-case scenario: Rodgers would help end the narrative about Mike Tomlin’s playoff shortcomings. Second-best: The Steelers would bottom out, putting them in position to draft a high-end passer. The worst case: A nine- or 10-win season in which the Steelers squeaked into the playoffs only to look like the least-qualified team there — just good enough to preserve a meaningless non-losing-season streak but nowhere close enough to making a realistic run at the Lombardi Trophy. We all know which scenario played out. Yet, here we are one year later, in essentially the same place. Rodgers once again ended an unnecessarily drawn-out courtship by agreeing to another one-year deal with the Steelers, league sources confirmed to The Athletic. The decision to run it back has been met with considerable skepticism — and reasonably so. The big question as they start down this path a second time: Will Rodgers be the bridge to the future or a roadblock? In a vacuum, if you’re considering only the 2026 season, one could make a strong argument that Rodgers is the best of some unappealing options. Even in his early 40s, Rodgers still has elite arm talent. He has an unparalleled football IQ. Last season, he passed knowledge down to younger players and, at the line of scrimmage, consistently got the Steelers into the best plays. Perhaps more than anything, he was an incredibly willing and hands-on mentor to rookie QB Will Howard from the first day at mandatory minicamp, something that should benefit 2026 third-round pick Drew Allar. While there’s a chance Howard or Allar becomes a franchise QB one day, neither is ready to step in if the goal is to win right away. At the same time, Rodgers isn’t the magician he once was. As his mobility declines, he’s been unable to extend plays to attack downfield and has appeared unwilling to take some of the contact necessary to create explosive plays. As a result, the Steelers relied on a simple formula in 2025: Get the ball out of Rodgers’s hand faster than anyone else, throw it shorter than anyone else, and create more yards after the catch than anyone else. That style put a bit of a ceiling on the offense. Against average or below-average defenses, Rodgers was typically good, sometimes even showing flashes of his old brilliance. Against top-tier defenses with elite pass rushers, he was often poor. While that decline in performance should be expected from all quarterbacks, Rodgers’ limitations made the dropoff far more precipitous than his peers. The Steelers played eight games last year against defenses that finished top-10 in fewest yards allowed: the Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns (twice), Los Angeles Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots. In those games, Rodgers completed 59.1 percent of his passes for 171 yards per game with seven touchdowns, six interceptions, a lost fumble returned for a touchdown and a sack taken for a safety. He posted an EPA per dropback of negative-0.25, according to TruMedia, and a passer rating of 75.2. Theoretically, the Steelers’ roster is in better position than it was a season ago. It should be, considering the team worked with a league-high 12 draft picks and went into free agency in the top third of the NFL in salary-cap space. If Rodgers and the Steelers are going to raise their ceiling in Year 2, several offseason moves need to pay dividends. Receiving corpsThe Steelers never had a legitimate WR2 on their roster last year. Instead, general manager Omar Khan believed that some combination of Calvin Austin III, Roman Wilson and Jonnu Smith could fill that role in aggregate. By the end of the year, the team was scrambling to sign Rodgers’ old friend Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen, who retired months later. And while Khan thought Austin could be WR2, the league viewed him much differently: On the open market, he received a one-year, $1.5 million deal with no guarantee he’ll make the New York Giants’ roster. Smith, released before free agency, remains unsigned. Rodgers should step into a better situation this year. Michael Pittman Jr. has been a WR1 at points in his career and will now take on WR2 responsibilities. Stylistically, he’s a bigger-bodied possession receiver who could become a consistent chain mover for Rodgers’ quick-game style. Behind him, second-round pick Germie Bernard brings the yards-after-catch potential that’s a fundamental part of the West Coast offense. Maybe more importantly, he was considered one of the most NFL-ready receivers in this class, which gives him a better chance to contribute early with a QB who expects precision and professionalism. The McCarthy factorWhile Rodgers has played in a variety of schemes, he enjoyed some of his best seasons alongside West Coast offensive believer Mike McCarthy. The change at play caller will be evident in a number of ways. One small example: Arthur Smith was probably the NFL’s most tight-end-friendly coordinator, deploying 12 (two tight ends) and 13 personnel (three tight ends) at some of the highest rates in the league. McCarthy’s emphasis on 11 personnel (three wide receivers) better fits Rodgers’s skill set and his preferences. To put it more bluntly: McCarthy has called winning plays in the Super Bowl. Smith has been bumped down to the college ranks. The offensive lineThis group is full of flexibility, young potential and question marks. Asking multiple first- and second-year players to block for a quarterback who will turn 43 in December is a big gamble. But, because Rodgers does get the ball out of his hand quickly and is an expert at identifying pressure pre-snap, he’ll protect this group as much as they’ll protect him. By the end of the season, with respected offensive line coach James Campen leading the development, maybe this group is in the right spot. The defensePerhaps the biggest part of the equation will be how the Steelers play when Rodgers is sitting on the bench. As it currently stands, the Steelers will dedicate more salary-cap space to defense than any other team for the fifth consecutive season. According to Over The Cap, their $188.5 cap hit is about $15 million more than the second-highest spender, the Ravens. The Steelers did not see the return on investment under former defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and Tomlin. Patrick Graham will need to take a loaded, albeit aging, group and get it to play closer to its collective paycheck. Best-case scenario: Rodgers uses an improved supporting cast and a more established play caller to jolt the offense to new heights, and the defense plays like it did when it nearly lifted Duck Hodges to the playoffs (in 2019). The old gunslinger makes the most of an AFC without an obvious favorite and rides off after one last trip into the playoffs, this one coming with a postseason win. Worst case: The Steelers remain stuck in the middle — always in the playoff conversation but never realistically a Super Bowl contender. They don’t learn anything more about whether Howard or Allar can be their next quarterback, as neither gets any in-game experience. And Rodgers pushes the Steelers close to the postseason, but further from a position to draft the QB who will end this cycle in 2027. |
| AFC EAST |
| BUFFALOSCHEDULE NOTESThe Bills don’t christen their stadium (for a regular season game) until Week 2, but that’s the start of a run of three in a row at home against formidable opponents…With the Texans and Rams as road foes, Buffalo would do well to be 3-2, maybe 2-3, after the first five before they visit Las Vegas…Five Primetime games for the Bills, plus a Christmas Standalone on Netflix at Denver…Like the Patriots, they have the benefit of four “easy” divisionals against the Jets and Dolphins, but the rest of the schedule is tough…The last big game with the Patriots is Week 13 at New England. Buffalo Bills1 Sep. 13 at Houston Texans 1:00 PM CBS 2 Sep. 17 Detroit Lions (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ 3 Sep. 27 Los Angeles Chargers 1:00 PM FOX 4 Oct. 4 New England Patriots 1:00 PM CBS 5 Oct. 12 at Los Angeles Rams (Mon) 8:15 PM ESPN/ABC 6 Oct. 18 at Las Vegas Raiders 4:25 PM CBS 7 BYE 8 Nov. 1 Baltimore Ravens 1:00 PM CBS 9 Nov. 9 at Minnesota Vikings (Mon) 8:15 PM ESPN/ABC 10 Nov. 15 at New York Jets 1:00 PM CBS 11 Nov. 22 Miami Dolphins 1:00 PM FOX 12 Nov. 26 Kansas City Chiefs (Thu) 8:20 PM NBC 13 Dec. 6 at New England Patriots 4:25 PM CBS 14 Dec. 13 at Green Bay Packers 8:20 PM NBC* 15 Dec. 19 Chicago Bears (Sat) 8:20 PM CBS 16 Dec. 25 at Denver Broncos (Fri) 4:30 PM NETFLIX 17 Jan. 3 at Miami Dolphins 1:00 PM CBS 18 TBD New York Jets TBD TBD |
| MIAMISCHEDULE NOTESThe Dolphins are one of the five Sunday only teams (barring a Week 18 Saturday flex)…They show up 9 times on FOX, to just 7 on CBS…They are in the late window five times, twice while not in the West…Three of the first four on the road…The best win opportunities come in Weeks 1 (at LV), 7 and 12 (the Jets)…With the four NFC North teams and the four AFC West clubs, it’s a tough go for the Fish. Miami Dolphins1 Sep. 13 at Las Vegas Raiders 4:25 PM FOX2 Sep. 20 at San Francisco 49ers 4:25 PM FOX3 Sep. 27 Kansas City Chiefs 1:00 PM CBS4 Oct. 4 at Minnesota Vikings 4:05 PM FOX5 Oct. 11 Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 PM FOX6 BYE7 Oct. 25 at New York Jets 1:00 PM CBS8 Nov. 1 New England Patriots 4:25 PM CBS9 Nov. 8 Detroit Lions 1:00 PM FOX10 Nov. 15 at Indianapolis Colts 1:00 PM CBS11 Nov. 22 at Buffalo Bills 1:00 PM FOX12 Nov. 29 New York Jets 1:00 PM CBS13 Dec. 6 at Denver Broncos 4:05 PM FOX14 Dec. 13 Chicago Bears 1:00 PM CBS15 Dec. 20 at Green Bay Packers 1:00 PM FOX16 Dec. 27 Los Angeles Chargers 1:00 PM FOX17 Jan. 3 Buffalo Bills 1:00 PM CBS18 TBD at New England Patriots TBD TBD |
| NEW ENGLANDSCHEDULE NOTESThe Patriots go from easy schedule in 2025 (14-3) to a tough one…Five Primetime games and the NFL thinks they will be viable late in the year of them with three of them from Thanksgiving on…They also get to go to Munich to meet the Lions in Week 10…The tough opener at Seattle, then five straight weeks in the early window on CBS (although Week 4 at Buffalo is Primetime worthy)…From weeks 7 to 16, they will not be in the early Sunday window with a pair of late Sunday starts at home…Both Bills-Patriots games are on CBS…They travel on back-to-back weeks four times. New England Patriots 1 Sep. 9 at Seattle Seahawks (Wed) 8:20 PM NBC 2 Sep. 20 Pittsburgh Steelers 1:00 PM CBS 3 Sep. 27 at Jacksonville Jaguars 1:00 PM CBS 4 Oct. 4 at Buffalo Bills 1:00 PM CBS 5 Oct. 11 Las Vegas Raiders 1:00 PM CBS 6 Oct. 18 New York Jets 1:00 PM CBS 7 Oct. 22 at Chicago Bears (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ 8 Nov. 1 at Miami Dolphins 4:25 PM CBS 9 Nov. 8 Green Bay Packers 4:25 PM FOX 10 Nov. 15 vs Detroit Lions (Munich) 9:30 AM FOX 11 BYE 12 Nov. 29 at Los Angeles Chargers 8:20 PM NBC* 13 Dec. 6 Buffalo Bills 4:25 PM CBS 14 Dec. 10 Minnesota Vikings (Thu) 8:15 PM AMZ* 15 Dec. 21 at Kansas City Chiefs (Mon) 8:15 PM ESPN/ABC* 16 Dec. 27 at New York Jets 1:00 PM CBS 17 TBD Denver Broncos TBD TBD 18 TBD Miami Dolphins TBD TBD |
| NEW YORK JETSSCHEDULE NOTESAnother Sunday only team – with a 10-6 CBS-FOX split…Everything at 1 on Sunday, except the two Western games at 4:05…We see six games in their weight class (Week 1 at Tennessee, Week 5 Cleveland, Weeks 7 and 12 Miami, Week 8 Las Vegas, Week 15 at Arizona). Miami only has 3 (2 with NYJ, plus LV). New York Jets1 Sep. 13 at Tennessee Titans 1:00 PM CBS2 Sep. 20 Green Bay Packers 1:00 PM FOX3 Sep. 27 at Detroit Lions 1:00 PM FOX4 Oct. 4 at Chicago Bears 1:00 PM FOX5 Oct. 11 Cleveland Browns 1:00 PM CBS6 Oct. 18 at New England Patriots 1:00 PM CBS7 Oct. 25 Miami Dolphins 1:00 PM CBS8 Nov. 1 Las Vegas Raiders 1:00 PM FOX9 Nov. 8 at Kansas City Chiefs 1:00 PM CBS10 Nov. 15 Buffalo Bills 1:00 PM CBS11 Nov. 22 at Los Angeles Chargers 4:05 PM FOX12 Nov. 29 at Miami Dolphins 1:00 PM CBS13 BYE14 Dec. 13 Denver Broncos 1:00 PM CBS15 Dec. 20 at Arizona Cardinals 4:05 PM FOX16 Dec. 27 New England Patriots 1:00 PM CBS17 Jan. 3 Minnesota Vikings 1:00 PM CBS18 TBD at Buffalo Bills TBD TBD |
| THIS AND THAT |
| THE CASE TO STOP THE 24-TEAM COLLEGE PLAYOFFIt wasn’t that long ago that four teams, chosen from conferences with eight to 12 teams, competed in the limited College Football Playoff. And now, in just a few short years, there could be 24 teams involved. Stewart Mandel of The Athletic begs for sanity to prevail. Who here saw the 2021 disaster satire “Don’t Look Up”? A comet is heading toward Earth that will surely wipe out civilization. Meryl Streep’s dim-witted president comes up with a plan to send a nuclear weapon into space to destroy it, but calls it off when a billionaire donor convinces her cabinet that they will all get rich by mining it for minerals instead. Spoiler alert: Civilization gets wiped out. This exact scenario is unfolding in college football right now. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti (not a billionaire, but certainly a get-rich-schemer) has somehow convinced a growing number of fellow power-brokers — ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua and Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks — that a 24-team College Football Playoff is the answer to all their problems. Much like the alarmist astronomers in “Don’t Look Up” who can’t get anyone to listen to them, 90 percent of actual college football fans are pleading with these guys: Don’t do it! (That’s a real number, by the way, based on several online polls.) But to this point, no one is listening to them. Because what would they know? They’re only the folks who buy the tickets and deliver the Nielsen ratings that fund the entire enterprise. We just went through this to some extent with the 76-team NCAA tournament nonsense, but the consequences of that one — a few more mediocre teams get in and the bracket gets clunkier — are puny compared with the transformation college football is considering. Doubling the size of the CFP would redefine the entire ethos of the sport. And not in a good way. What draws tens of millions of people to tune in on fall Saturdays is that the regular season matters. In college football, you can’t go 9-8 and play for the Super Bowl, or go .500 in your basketball conference and still reach the Final Four. No one rests their superstars for a Week 4 road game like in the NBA. But they might now. Heck, this is a sport where, as recently as 2023, you could go undefeated and not play for a national title (sorry, Florida State). Now, in what would be the grossest overcorrection in modern sports history, we could go from that to 8-4 teams in the Playoff in the span of four years. It should come as no surprise that the guy spearheading this whole thing, Petitti, honed his craft as an executive at Major League Baseball, where you can go 83-79 and contend for the World Series. It’s a classic case of self-preservation. No one is looking out for the larger enterprise, just their own job security. And the worst part is, they’re responding to crises of their creation. They made their conferences too big, so now they need more Playoff berths. They spent so many years and billable hours fighting to prevent players from making money that now even $1 billion-a-year TV contracts aren’t enough to cover the roster. So they talk themselves into half-cocked justifications like: 1. “Teams will play tougher nonconference games!” No, they’ll say nine conference games are tough enough to try to finish 9-3. 2. “So many more late-season games will be meaningful.” Sure, but they’ll be games between two fourth-place teams rather than No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 5 LSU. 3. “Coaches will be under less pressure!” Tell that to the 10 NFL coaches (out of 32) who lost their jobs last year, including one who even won a wild-card game. This is college football’s comet moment. So, who’s going to stop it? Right now, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey appears to be the last one left pointing toward the sky. He, too, wants expansion — but so far, he’s not ready to go beyond 16. His and Petitti’s conferences gained sole decision-making power over future postseason formats in the new CFP contract that begins this year. And they’ve been locked in a standstill for more than two years. You may recall that Petitti’s original grand plan was a 16-team CFP, with the Big Ten and SEC each receiving four automatic qualifier berths and the ACC and Big 12 two. Truly no one wanted that, and Sankey delivered the death knell at his league’s annual spring meetings in Destin, Fla., last year, when he revealed his coaches opposed it. There were not enough at-large berths for their mighty teams. The 24-team version would grant just one AQ to the highest Group of 6 team. The entire Big Ten or SEC could theoretically qualify. The SEC folks return to Destin in a couple of weeks, this time without such unanimity. Several of Sankey’s own constituents — Georgia coach Kirby Smart, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel and AD Danny White — have come out in favor of 24. (Conversely, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian told USA Today on Tuesday it’s a “knee-jerk reaction” and that “We don’t think about the unintended consequences of decisions we make.”) If Sankey leaves meetings with the impression that the majority of his ADs and coaches support 24, he’ll likely face increasing pressure to stand down. But attendees will also hear from other folks with a vested interest: ESPN execs. They make the rounds at all the spring meetings, including the ACC’s earlier this week, where Phillips relayed exactly how the network feels about a giant bracket. “ESPN’s made it clear, they want it to stay at 12 or 14, but no more than 16,” the commissioner told reporters. Of course, that’s the case. ESPN has been the exclusive CFP rightsholder since the CFP’s 2014 inception and just signed an extension through 2031-32. But that deal only covers a field up to 14 teams. Any games above that — in this case, 10 of them — can go to the open market. Hence why Fox’s Shanks is such a big fan of 24. Industry folks believe Sankey’s stance goes hand in hand with that of his league’s most important partner. Imagine telling ESPN you want to renegotiate your TV contract (which runs through 2034) to take less money because you’ve decided to cancel your most-watched game of the year (the SEC championship). Oh, and all those games you show in September and October will have considerably lower stakes. All told, the four conferences would collectively lose an estimated $250 million a year if they ended their championship games. Surely they must have hard and fast data showing that those 10 CFP games would be insanely valuable to make that trade. Well, not exactly. Industry sources say the CFP’s media consultants are only now beginning that process. Any wildly optimistic projections floating around the Amelia Island Ritz-Carlton this week were as sound as that Utah professor who told the former Pac-12 they should ask for $50 million per team. Note that ESPN currently sublicenses half its first-round games to TNT. The new ones would feature lower-ranked teams. Ultimately, it’s not the coaches, the ADs, or even the commissioners who get the final word on this thing. Every school president has to sign off on it. The size of a football playoff is not exactly the top priority on most of their agendas these days, and they might not even be paying much attention to the topic. So if you’re one of the 90 percent who think this is madness, who is as concerned as I am about a bunch of short-sighted administrators robbing college football of its soul, email your favorite school’s president or chancellor. Voice your concerns. Let them know how much this matters to you. Because right now the comet is hurtling on a direct path to destroy the greatest regular season in sports, and no one is listening. |
