ESPN warns of abandoning $7.8 billion College Football Playoff deal over CFP's inability to solve critical issues: Reports

ESPN reportedly could pull the plug on its $7.8 billion offer to broadcast the College Football Playoff.

ESPN agreed to the massive deal earlier this week; however, The Athletic reported that the deal “will not be ratified until the commissioners and presidents vote on the structure and financials.”

Now, according to John Ourand of the Puck News, ESPN may decide to pull the plug on the college football deal if the CFP can’t figure out its own plans:

"The deal is not signed, and there’s a chance that ESPN could pull its offer in the next few months if the CFP organizational body doesn’t get its act together. Of course, the always-maligned CFP committee has yet to finalize the new 12-team playoff structure.

"This process has only gotten more complicated as the PAC-12 has essentially become the PAC-2, with only poor Washington State and Oregon State left behind, and the Big Ten and SEC continually levitating above the NCAA to become their own veritable semiprofessional leagues.

"The playoff committee needs to figure out how to placate the conferences, ensure that the larger format is more inclusive, and allow everyone (the conferences, the schools, and their broadcast partner, chief among them) to make enough money so that they play nice—at least for now."

Part of the reason why ESPN may decide to walk away from the deal is due to the negotiations the network has with other sports.

According to the Puck News report, ESPN will look to retain the UFC in the fall while also bidding on the NBA and MLB rights, so the CFP may want to make the deal official as soon as possible.

College Football Playoff set to expand in 2024

This upcoming college football season will be the first of the new expanded playoff.

The College Football Playoff in 2024 will see 12 teams, which will include the six highest-ranked conference champions, who will receive automatic bids. The top four teams will receive a first-round bye to the quarterfinals. The six highest-ranked teams remaining will round out the 12-team format.

The playoff games will also be played at bowl locations. In 2024 the locations will be as follows:

2024 quarterfinals: Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl

2024 semifinals: Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl

The first round of the College Football Playoff will take place on Dec. 20-21, with quarterfinals on Dec. 31, semifinals on Jan. 9 and 10, and the national championship game on Jan. 20.