Ohio State AD: 'Can't ignore' talk of 16-team playoffs

The future of the College Football Playoff continues to dominate the sport's landscape, and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith acknowledged Tuesday that momentum for expanding to a 16-team format is building.

"Sixteen just seems to be out there," Smith told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Tuesday.

"You can't ignore it."

Smith was referring to speculation about how to expand the postseason when the four-team format expires after the 2025 campaign, adding that no official talks have taken place.

The CFP has been a four-team format since its debut in 2014.

An expansion to 12 teams was seemingly in the cards earlier this year, but with conferences unable to agree on the scope of the new format, the CFP management committee opted to continue the current structure for the next four seasons.

"No reasonable options will be ruled out," CFP executive director Bill Hancock said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said he was "100% supportive" of expanding the playoffs, but he stressed the need to move away from having ESPN as the sole television partnership for the CFP.

"What is that right number?" he asked. "We'll figure it out. I'm confident we'll get College Football Playoff expansion resolved. I feel very strongly that we need to open it up to have multiple media partners, that we need to have from the college football standpoint. We need to take a holistic view."