The College Football Playoff expansion debate thus far has focused on increasing access to the field, but the less discussed issue that will play a role in the final decision is, as always, money. How much additional TV money would a 24-team tournament bring, and would it sufficiently offset the money leagues would be giving up from the elimination of conference championship games?“If we find the value, I think it just changes the tone of the conversations,” Big Ten commissioner and 24-team driver Tony Petitti said at the league’s media days in July.On Monday, the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director will meet to talk specifically about the trade-offs of different formats. But what was originally scheduled to be an in-person gathering in Dallas has been changed to a virtual meeting due to ongoing work on other more pressing issues than the postseason.Monday’s agenda will mostly focus on the logistics, multiple people said — topics like the calendar, TV broadcast windows for CFP games, the future of Army-Navy in an altered December schedule, the impact of expansion on the regular season, conference championships and health and safety. CFP executive director Rich Clark said the CFP’s media consultants will share research on those topics and potentially share a general range of early TV projections, but not deep specifics. Figuring out when additional games take place, and whether they would go up against NFL broadcasts, impacts their value. No decisions are expected.“It’s really to answer lingering questions and present some second- and third-order effects,” Clark said.But the serious money conversation will happen at some point this fall, especially with ESPN’s Dec. 1 deadline for the CFP management committee to notify the network of format changes for 2027. The Big Ten is full speed ahead behind its 24-team model. The SEC still has questions, and some prefer 16. Those two leagues hold control over the format, and beginning this year, they receive nearly 60 percent of CFP revenue, rather than the previous, more equal split.“We don’t have any idea at this point of the clear media interest in an expanded Playoff,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said at his own league’s media days. “We do have an understanding of what happened when we went to 12.”What happened when the CFP expanded to 12 was that only ESPN put forth a competitive bid for the rights. The CFP spoke to all the major broadcasters and streamers, and at one point its leaders hoped to split the rights among multiple partners like the NFL does with its playoffs. That ultimately didn’t happen. Although the talks lasted past ESPN’s exclusive negotiating window and the CFP contract went to market, ESPN secured the rights through 2031 for around $1.3 billion annually, up from the $608 million it paid to broadcast the four-team format but less than some had projected.