Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren did not hold back when he gave his opinion on automatic qualifiers for playoff expansion, telling College Sports on SiriusXM that he's "a big believer that there should be automatic qualifiers for the power five conferences."
He went on to highlight how there are current contracts with bowl sponsors in place, and "we need to be mindful of treating our bowl partners with the class and respect that they deserve."
Bob Bowlsby (Big 12 commissioner), Greg Sankey (SEC commissioner), Craig Thompson (Mountain West commissioner) and Jack Swarbrick (Notre Dame athletic director) proposed the 12-team playoff model in June, which would guarantee spots to the six highest-ranked conference champions as well as at-large bids to the next six highest-ranked teams.