“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” an Idiom that has come to mean there’s a deep, hidden corruption or something seriously wrong beneath a seemingly normal surface, often hinting at political decay, moral issues, or suspicious motives, originating from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The phrase, spoken by Marcellus suggests unease and foreshadows evil, reflecting the kingdom’s unhealthy moral and political foundation. 

In July of 2025, B10 Commissioner, Tony Petitti approaches SEC Commissioner, Greg Sankey with his 16 game, 4, 4. 2, 1 & 3 format, a plan for the 2026 CFP.

The Plan basically eliminates the B10 & SEC championship Game and replaces it with each conference having 2, Play-in-Games (6 vs 3 & 4 vs 5)

The B10 & SEC would be Guaranteed 4 automatic births into the CFP / the ACC & B12 would each get 2 automatics bids apiece, The G5 would be guaranteed one spot & 3 AT-Lange Spots.

The one cavate the B10 wanted from the Southeastern was for the SEC to move from 8 conference games to 9 league games!

Sankey initially likes this plan and takes it back to Atlanta for further discussion. The SEC Coaches “lose their minds”! They make it clear to Sankey, that their schedules are already significantly harder than the B10’s and all the additional game means is that they will be losing an extra game.

This added loss could/will keep a couple of Southeastern Conference Clubs out of the CFP! It will also cost coaches jobs, as expectations are “sky high” in the conference fan-base to make the CFP!

So Sankey reports back to Petitti and tells him that they will not be moving to to nine games for the 2026 season! The 4-4-2-1-3, in part, was dependent on the SEC and then the ACC moving to 9 conference games. This added league game would align the Southeastern & the Atlantic Coast with the Big 12 & Big Ten, who are already at 9!

Enter ESPN! The Network owns the SEC & ACC distribution rights, which means that they have exclusive, long term rights to broadcast SEC & ACC games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 & Streaming on ESPN+. Rights mean the Network has sole discretion as to where these games are seen & the times they are played.

ESPN currently pays the Southeastern Conference 811 Million dollars annually and will continue to do so for the next 10 years. This dollar amount breaks down to 52.6 million per team. Texas & Oklahoma currently receive less, as they were late arrivals to the ESPN’s cash dump. Yet, shockingly, the SEC is still behind the B10 conference & per team pay outs, the B10 receives about 1 Billion for the conference distribution rights from FOX, CBS, NBC, FS1 & BTN and provides somewhere between 80 to 100 million per team.

ESPN, while not aligned with the B10, is in lockstep with them on the SEC playing 9 conference games in 2026. The Network communicated to Sankey that if the Southeastern would be willing to play the 9th game, there will be 50 to 80 million dollars, in addition to the 811 million the conference is set ti receive in 2026.

Greg Sankey now informs (no longer asking) the SEC coaches ” Hey Boys” we will be playing a 9th game in 2026 and you will be receiving somewhere between 3.1 to 5 million additional dollars for the coming season.

Sankey, now lets Petitti know that the SEC will no longer even consider the 4-4-2-1-3 format for the possible move to a 16 team field in 26′. He indicates that it is his belief that the SEC can do better then the 4 automatic berths guaranteed in Petitti’s plan. He lets Petitti know that the SEC is supporting the 5 / 11 format which grants the 5 highest ranked conference champs auto entries into the tourney and allows 11 at-large teams, to play their way into the playoff! Sankey tells Petitti he is confident the SEC will be able to place @ least 5 teams with this 5/11 format.

So let’s now fast forward to November 2, 2025 and the beginning of the CFP selection process. ESPN has/will paid out 7.8 Billion through 2031-32 season to promote the CFP or about 1.3 B annually. It is in their best interest to promote the best possible match-ups in the CFP, after a couple of Caveats are acted upon!

First, ESPN wanted ND in the CFP, please let’s get that in our rear view mirror right away! To them it is about money, Notre Dame’s independence or Catholicism, are 100% irrelevant to ND’s participation in the CFP.

While the Irish are no longer a huge TV draw, they drew about 3.2 million viewers per game in 2025! WOW seems like huge number! Yet they are consistently behind such brands as Oho State, Bama, Texas, UGA, & Michigan.

That said, their presence in the CFP would be financially significant (The ND Miami game had over 10 million viewers / A&M over 6 million)! Given those #’s, ESPN preference would be that the Irish are playing in the CFP! So why aren’t they?

The real reason ND is not still playing is related to those Caveats we mentioned early in the blog. 1) ESPN massive financial involvement in the CFP (7.8 Billion), 2) Their owning the Distribution Rights for SEC (300 Billion for 10 years / 811 Million per year & over 50 million per team; 3) Owning the Distribution Rights for the ACC (700,000,000 thru 2036 / about 45,000,000.00 annually per team)! Then factor in ESPN’s financial (7.8 Billion thru 2031-32 or 1.3 annually) support to the CFP, the Network found itself at the Epicenter of the “Mother of all Conflicts of Interests” . Its contracts with the SEC (5 Teams) & ACC (@ least 1 team) while trying to get the best possible matchup in the tourney! !

Finally, let’s take a look at the CFP committee, how is it selected, who serves on it, and how much influence does ESPN have on the process? The College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee members are chosen by the CFP’s governing body, the Board of Managers. This group is made up of
university presidents from the participating conferences and Notre Dame.
In turn they work with the Management Committee, a body made up of
conference commissioners, who handle the day-to-day affairs,

The College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee members are chosen by the CFP’s governing body, (the Board of Managers / the Management Committee) who are a diverse group of respected figures with backgrounds as college coaches, former players, athletic directors, and journalists, a diverse group of respected figures with backgrounds as college coaches, former players, athletic directors, and journalists!

Here are this years members: Chris Ault (Former Nevada Coach/AD / Pistol), Troy Dannen (Nebraska AD), Mark Dantonio (Former Coach / MSU), Mark Harlan (Utah AD), Jeff Long (Former AD @ Arkansas & Kansas), Ivan Maisel (Sportswriter), Chris Massaro (Middle Tennessee AD), Mike Riley (Former Coach), David Sayler (Miami (OH) AD), Wesley Walls (Former NFL Player), & Carla Williams (Virginia AD)! Adjustments to the committee, Mack Rhoades, (Baylor AD) stepped down as chair in November 2025, replaced by Hunter Yurachek, Mark Harlan was added to the committee as the new Big 12 representative, & Randall McDaniel (former player) stepped down temporarily in October 2025 but planned to return the following year.

ESPN heavily influences the College Football Playoff (CFP) through its massive broadcast deal (7.8 billion broad casting rights deal), producing selection shows (every Tuesday for 4 weeks), shaping media narratives on ESPN, and potentially biasing criteria favoring SEC (811 Million) / ACC (3.6 Billion).

ESPN does not show up at CFP Committee meetings and direct its members as to how to vote. Yet their talking heads @ ESPN are 24 /7 engaged in expressing opinions that are in the preponderance, Network driven. The last 3 weeks on ESPN, conversations were all about ND @ Miami, when actually there was no debate between them … head to head should always prevail.

Rather, in my opinion, the focus needed to be on Alabama vs ND & Miami / I thought the Tide played their way right out of playoffs, needing a late TO vs a 5-7 Auburn & rushed for -3 yards vs UGA in the SEC Championship Game. In the end, ESPN wanted 5 SEC teams & needed @ 1 rep from the ACC! And what happened?