College Football Playoff expansion may be on the way. Plus: the NBA plans to return to its traditional October start; Alex Smith is auditioning for an NFL TV role; and more.
CFP sub-group, including SEC, Big 12 and ND leaders, endorses 12-team playoff
A sub-group of the College Football Playoff management committee — including SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick — is proposing that the CFP expand to 12 teams as soon as 2023.
Under the expanded format, the #5-12 ranked teams would face each other in first round games hosted by the higher-ranked team, with the four winners joining the #1-4 ranked teams in quarterfinal and semifinal games that would take place at the site of existing bowls. The national championship would continue to be hosted at a neutral site.
The first round games would take place during the two weeks after the conference championships, the quarterfinals would take place on or around New Year’s Day, and the semifinals and championship would be sometime thereafter. The semifinals games would likely be played on separate nights.
The full management committee is expected to review the proposal later this month. It would not be until the fall before an official decision is made. [CFP 6.10]
NBA sets return to mid-October start
The 2021-22 NBA season is scheduled to run from Tuesday, October 19 through a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 19, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, marking a return to the league’s traditional months of operation. The current season began on December 22 and could run as late as July 22. Last season began as normal in October 2019 but was halted for four months in March and did not conclude until the following October.
Due to the upheaval in the NBA schedule, parts of three seasons will have occurred in the span of one calendar year — last season’s NBA Finals, the entirety of this season, and next year’s preseason. [Charania/Twitter 6.10]
Alex Smith auditions for TV role
Recently retired NFL QB Alex Smith has auditioned with CBS and FOX for an NFL game analyst role and also had meetings with NFL Network and ESPN, according to the New York Post.
CBS has also auditioned former Cowboys LB Sean Lee and ESPN college football analysts Mark Sanchez and Joey Galloway, though the network reportedly feels no pressure to add any new analysts.
The Post is also reporting that ESPN-turned-Fox analyst Charles Woodson will be a permanent part of the Fox NFL Kickoff cast this season, and that NBC Football Night in America analyst Rodney Harrison will move from the studio to game sites. Harrison is being replaced in the studio by newcomer Drew Brees. [NYP 6.10 a, b]
Plus: ESPN sports book, Olympic Trials, Olympic correspondents
ESPN is in early discussions about launching its own branded sports book, according to Front Office Sports. The company has ramped up its sports betting presence in recent years, most notably debuting a daily gambling show and Las Vegas studio. … The NBC broadcast network is scheduled to carry 13 straight nights of U.S. Olympic Trials coverage in primetime from Saturday through June 27. That likely rules out any more Stanley Cup playoff games airing on NBC in primetime until the Stanley Cup Final. … NBC has named skateboarder Tony Hawk as a correspondent for its planned coverage of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The move comes as skateboarding is set to debut as an Olympic sport. In addition, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir are slated to return as Olympic correspondents for the fourth time, and MSNBC analyst Steve Kornacki — who NBC has been including in several of its sportscasts over the past year — is set to debut in the role. [Front Office Sports 6.10, NBC Sports PR]
