College football stakeholders have been diligently working this offseason on the future of the College Football Playoff (CFP), achieving notable progress towards a 5+11 model. This framework proposes to give automatic bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions and includes the next eleven highest-ranked teams as at-large participants. At the Big 12 Media Days, Commissioner Brett Yormark stated he is “doubling down” on this format.

This proposal is crucial for the Big 12, as it effectively assures the conference champion a place in the playoff. Although there is a chance that two champions from Group of Five (or Group of Six with the Pac-12’s reconstruction) could potentially outrank the top Big 12 team, it would take extraordinary circumstances to exclude the Big 12 from the automatic qualifiers.

“5+11 is fair,” said Yormark, via ESPN. “We want to earn it on the field. It may not be the optimal solution for Big 12 today … but long-term, with the investments and progress we’re making, it’s the right format for us. I’m doubling down on 5+11.”

This model provides less certainty for the Big 12 than the initial proposal that surfaced from leaders of the SEC and Big Ten, which proposed four automatic bids each for the SEC and Big Ten, and two for the ACC and Big 12. Notre Dame would be guaranteed a spot inside the top 16, while the remaining spots would be designated for at-large selections.

Yormark anticipates that ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips will echo support for the 5+11 model when his conference has its media days later this month. He expressed confidence that the playoff will expand to 16 teams as the new media rights contract begins in the 2026 season.

“I’m confident we’ll reach a favorable outcome and that ultimately we’ll transition to 5+11,” Yormark stated.

The conferences and CFP leaders have already approved an amended 12-team format for the upcoming season, shifting to a straight-seeding model and removing the seeding guarantees for conference champions.