What the Mountain West Conference said about the expanded College Football Playoff

With the expanded College Football Playoff coming this fall and an even more more expanded version — i.e., 14 teams as opposed to 12 — coming in 2026, Group of Five programs are guaranteed much greater access to the CFP than what was previously afforded.

Still, the debate of access, and perhaps more importantly increased revenue, has raged ever since it was reported how CFP distribution will be handled when the playoff expands again.

In response to the latest playoff expansion news, the Mountain West Conference publicly expressed its support of the CFP — and its team’s inclusion — while expressing dissatisfaction with how things stand currently.

“The Mountain West Conference is proud to compete alongside the nation’s premier athletic conferences in the College Football Playoff and we are excited to continue to do so for many year to come,” an official statement from the conference reads. “We pushed hard on behalf of our member institutions for the greatest access, input on governance and revenue share that we believe we deserve, and while we are disappointed in some aspects of the memorandum of understanding, we are looking forward to being a part of the expanded CFP in 2014 and beyond.”

As reported by Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the MW is currently in line — like every Group of Five conference — to get nearly $2 million annually from the CFP ($1.9), which amounts to close to 9% of what ESPN is paying to televise the playoff.

By way of comparison, the SEC is in line to get $23 million annually, the Big Ten $21 million, the ACC $13.7 million, Notre Dame $12.5 million and the Big 12 $12.3 million from the CFP.

Also, after some late stage negotiations, the Pac-12 managed to secure $3.6 million each from the CFP for remaining members Oregon State and Washington State, after both teams initially being slated for just $350,000 each.

With the MW situated as arguably the best Group of Five conference currently — it moves to a more definitive best of the G5 if you consider OSU and WSU as quasi-members — there is an argument to be made that the conference should have gotten more from the CFP going forward, be it money or a guaranteed berth for the conference champion.

But as things currently stand, the conference at least has a chance to compete on the biggest stage moving forward, something that hasn’t been true in years.

“The Mountain West Conference is poised for an incredible football season with talented teams and intriguing match-ups,” the MW said, “and we look forward to competing against the very best in the postseason.”