American Conference Still Undecided On Eliminating Conference Championship Game

The American Conference, its presidents and athletic directors did not decide on whether to eliminate the league’s title game during a previously scheduled meeting on Tuesday, sources told me. Conference leadership and its myriad stakeholders are continuing to ruminate on whether to eliminate the league title game in the wake of the College Football Playoff’s decision to expand its field to 24 teams beginning in 2027. The discussions on Tuesday were described as informational, sources said, as the league continues to fact-find before making a final decision. The American and its leadership are hoping to ultimately decide its championship game’s fate in December or January, sources said. If the American Conference were to proceed in keeping its conference championship game, it would likely need to fall on Thanksgiving weekend — which wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a desirable television window like it currently enjoys. The league is also balancing the expected change in the broader college football schedule that will make what is now Week 0 the first week of the season, which would potentially open an additional bye week. That change would effectively be rendered meaningless if the league maintained its title game, given the additional contest. The Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the CFP and ESPN also includes a change in language such that the Group of Six’s guaranteed spot in the field is tied to the “highest ranked Group of Six,” team compared to what had been the highest-ranked Group of Six conference champion under previous regulations. If the American – or any other Group of Six league – kept its title game, it could essentially play itself out of the field if its highest-ranked team or a squad in position to receive a CFP bid were to lose that game. Sources told me on Monday the Pac-12, MAC, Mountain West, CUSA, and Sun Belt were also in the process of vetting what to do with their individual conference title games — including potentially keeping them going forward. Those discussions are ongoing. The Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and ACC previously announced on Monday that they would all eliminate their conference title games as part of CFP expansion. The estimated value of those four games is in the neighborhood of $250 million in media rights fees that will be made whole in the CFP’s revamped expansion deal with ESPN.