ACC coaches, athletic directors in support of 24-team College Football Playoff expansion model

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The ACC wants to double the number of teams in the College Football Playoff, and an official endorsement from the league could be made public soon, CBS Sports has learned.

The conference's coaches and athletic directors voiced their unanimous support for expanding the CFP to 24 teams during a joint meeting Tuesday at the conference's spring meetings outside Jacksonville.

The development comes on the heels of the American Football Coaches Association's push for a 24-team field last week, a format first proposed by the Big Ten last year. Conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, without the SEC's Greg Sankey, met during a White House presidential committee meeting earlier this spring and voiced their interest and support for a 24-team field.

The Big 12 also supports a 24-team field, commissioner Brett Yormark told CBS Sports on Tuesday.

"The Big 12 likes 24, subject to doing the work and figuring out the economics," Yormark said.

The development places pressure on the SEC, which has yet to move beyond public support for a 12- or 16-team format. The SEC's annual spring meetings with athletic directors, coaches and university presidents are scheduled to begin May 26.

The Big Ten and SEC share controlling interest in the playoff's format, and any decision on expansion must be reached in unison between the two most powerful conferences in college football. The two sides did not see eye to eye during expansion talks last summer and fall, leading to the CFP remaining at 12 teams for the upcoming 2026-27 season.

Athletic directors and commissioners are wrestling with how to replace the broadcast revenue tied to conference championship games, money that would disappear under a 24-team format, with new revenue from an expanded playoff field. The ACC is expected to present revenue projections for a 24-team format to athletic directors on Wednesday, sources told CBS Sports.

"I don't love those things going away," said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, "but I don't see any other path forward, because, again, you've got to shorten the season. You've got to move it up."