The College Football Playoff Committee’s highly anticipated final unveiling will be televised live on Sunday when the teams selected for the inaugural 12-team tournament field will be announced.

Champions from the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern conferences receive an automatic playoff spot, as does the top-ranked school from the Group of Five.

The four highest-ranked league champions receive a bye to the quarterfinal round, while the lowest-ranked champion joins seven major teams to play four first-round games, taking place December 20-21.

The prestige of being included in the 12-team field isn’t the only benefit. Money is also at stake. The CFP’s financial distribution model rewards conferences not just for how many teams they field, but also for how far they advance.

CFP SALES DISTRIBUTION

According to the terms of the agreement for playoff participants:

*A conference receives $4 million for each team that makes it to the College Football Playoff and for each team that makes it to the quarterfinals.

*A conference receives $6 million for each team that makes it to the semifinals and each team that makes it to the national championship game.

*A conference whose team makes the field will receive $3 million to cover costs for each team in each round.

*Separately, each conference will receive $300,000 for each school whose team meets the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (ARP) for participation in postseason play. Each independent institution will also receive $300,000 if its football team meets this standard.

A goodbye is valuable

It’s not hard to understand why coaches and officials from the Big 12 and ACC tried to make a strong case for their conferences after the latest CFP rankings were announced on Tuesday. No. 8 SMU was the only ACC team to finish in the top 12, and no Big 12 team ranked as high. Arizona State came in at No. 15.

The champion of one of these conferences will almost certainly be the No. 5 seed, which would prevent the league from reaching its potential revenue potential. The top four CFP seeds will earn $8 million for their leagues through the first-round bye – $4 million for making the field and another $4 million for (automatic) passage to the quarterfinals .

No. 10 Boise State won its second straight Mountain West championship with a 21-7 victory over No. 20 UNLV on Friday night, and it seems impossible that the Broncos will fall out of the top 12 and qualify for the Big 12 Two losses could decide champions or an ACC winner with two or three losses.

Arizona State and No. 16 Iowa State (both 10-2) will play for the Big 12 title and SMU (11-1) will play No. 17 Clemson (9-3) for the ACC title.

Saturday’s championship card also features No. 2 Texas (11-1) against No. 5 Georgia (10-2) in a rematch for the SEC title and No. 1 Oregon (12-0) against No. 3 Penn State (11-0). 1) in the Big Ten title game. An independent No. 4 Notre Dame (11-1) is not eligible for a top-five finish under CFP rules.

THE PAYOUTS 2023-24

Based on calculations from the 2023-24 season, the CFP said the following distributions were made in spring 2024:

*For conferences whose champions had contracts to participate in the Orange, Rose or Sugar Bowls, the base amount, along with the total academic performance pool, was approximately $79.41 million for each conference.

*The five conferences whose champions did not have contracts to play in the Orange, Rose or Sugar Bowls received approximately $102.77 million in base and APR pools.

*Notre Dame received a payment of $3.89 million by meeting the APR standard. The other six independents shared $1.89 million.

WHEN THE LATEST CFP RANKINGS HOLD

The Big Ten and SEC should be the big winners if nothing changes Sunday from the most recent CFP rankings from Dec. 3.

Four Big Ten schools – Oregon, Penn State, Indiana, Ohio State – and four SEC schools – Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama – finished in the top 11. Alabama came in at No. 11, one spot behind Boise State and one ahead of ACC Miami, which in this case would be the first team to be eliminated.

In return, the Big Ten and SEC teams would earn at least $20 million for their conferences in the first two rounds – $16 million for the four teams in the field and another $4 million for the conference champion , because this increases automatically.

That would leave $4 million in first-round money for each Notre Dame, Boise State, Big 12 champion and ACC champion. The Mountain West would be the biggest unexpected winner, as it could earn $8 million if Boise State gets the No. 4 seed and the bye.

The quarterfinals will take place from December 31st to January 1st. 1, the semifinals will take place January 9-10 and the championship game will take place on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Hypothetically, if an SEC team and a Big Ten team met in the final game, each conference would earn an additional $12 million each – $6 million for reaching the semifinals and another $6 million for reaching of the title game.

If a conference has both finalists, the prize would be $24 million.