Across college football, there’s a growing belief that the system isn’t being held back by the committee or the teams but by television. With networks like ESPN pouring massive money ($3 M investment) into rights deals, the weekly CFP rankings show has become less of a competitive necessity and more of a made-for-TV fixture that the sport now revolves around.

“Many stakeholders believe that there is an easy solution to ease the CFP selection process: release one set of rankings at the end of the year instead of a weekly show for six weeks,” Yahoo Sports Ross Dellenger said. “The problem? Television, per former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby.”

A growing number of coaches, administrators, and fans argue that the sport doesn’t need weekly scorecards at all. They believe a single end-of-season ranking, something closer to an NFL-style model where results alone determine seeding, would create a cleaner system. No weekly reveals, no mid-season grading, and no outside interpretation. But that idea collides head-on with ESPN’s financial stake in the playoff.

Disney and ESPN signed a massive $3 billion, 10-year TV deal with the SEC. This deal has paid ESPN big time, drawing massive TV audiences from the SEC, as last year, seven of the top ten most-watched games that were aired on ABC had at least one SEC team. But in the previous two years, they just had five top-10 games of the season.

“My personal opinion is we come out with the rankings too early,” former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. “Doing it every week is hard on the chair and the committee. Two polls, one midseason and one at the end, would be better. But ESPN would flip out.”

So, under the new CFP television contract last year, ESPN will pay conferences more than $1 billion annually for rights to the playoff. ESPN has signed a massive six-year, $7.8 billion contract with CFP that keeps the network as the exclusive media rights holder through 2031-32. It also controls the playoffs under the original 12-year deal, and it expanded the package for the next two seasons. Starting from next year, ESPN pays $1.3 billion annually for full rights to every playoff round and all CFP programming with top 25 ranking shows and the weekly CFP selection show.

This agreement allows ESPN to present playoff games on all Disney platforms, including ABC, which will broadcast the CFP National Championship starting in 2026-27. So, if the rankings don’t come up every week, the efforts will go in vain. ESPN’s senior vice president Nick Dawson explained the entire reason behind this hefty investment.

“We feel really good about the value of what we’re getting in exchange for the financials being paid. We firmly believe the event is going to be better, starting this fall at 12 teams, just in terms of how it’s going to captivate the country,” Dawson said.

With ESPN, even conferences are benefiting from it, as the payouts to Power 5 schools are massive. Big Ten and SEC schools will make over $21 million annually, the ACC will make more than $13 million, and the Big 12 and Notre Dame will make around $12 million each. Now, a group of 5 schools makes around $1.8 million annually, but there’s no CFP participation bonus for them, as one spot is already given to them.

ESPN settles its longtime feud with Google

ESPN and Google ended their more than two-week standoff by reaching a new carriage rights deal, bringing Disney Networks back to YouTube TV.

“We’re happy to share that we’ve reached an agreement with Disney that preserves the value of our service for our subscribers and future flexibility in our offers. Subscribers should see channels including ABC, ESPN, and FX returning to their service over the course of the day, as well as any recordings that were previously in their library. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate our subscribers’ patience as we negotiated on their behalf,” YouTube said in the statement.

The dispute was mainly about how much YouTube TV should pay to carry ESPN channels. And it became so big because YouTube hired an ESPN executive, Justin Connolly, to run their sports division. So, to make it fair, he had to step aside.

Now, fans can watch ESPN, ABC, and other Disney-owned channels on YouTube TV once again. Despite the deal ESPN made, they made a notable decision to show their pregame show, College GameDay, for free on their X account. This new carry has major perks, as YouTube TV subscribers will now get access to ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer unlimited service at no extra cost to watch big events like WrestleMania and the Royal Rumble once the toll put finishes in 2026.