Questions loom about playoff expansion

By Josh Ortega

If one word described this era of Collegiate Athletics, it would be “change.” 

College sports have seen a handful of changes during the last few years. In College Football, a major change could be heading down the pipeline on the sport’s biggest stage. 

The College Football Playoff is nearing a move to expand its playoff bracket to the largest in the sport, with a 24-team playoff as soon as 2027, according to ESPN College Football Senior Writer Pete Thamel. The potential move comes just two years after the College Football Playoff expanded from four teams to 12 in 2023. The potential expansion is expected to function similarly to the 12-team playoff. However, nothing has been finalized. 

For reference, in the 12-team playoff, four conference champions or highest seeds get a bye, the highest ranked group of five schools is placed as the 12th team, and the rest is filled out with the remaining selected schools.

In a 24-team playoff, the number of teams would double to eight teams on byes, with teams between 9-24 seeing action in the first round. With nothing finalized yet, the move could see on-campus games as a popular addition as part of the 12-team format to move into the second round of the postseason. 

Change is inevitable, but in this case the potential expansion of the playoff has left fans, analysts and others asking the same question. What is gained and what is lost? Why now?

Quoting Hal Holbrook in “All the President’s Men,” “Follow the money.”

In the short span of a 12-team playoff, it has been dubbed a major success for the sport based on the numbers. In a release from ESPN after the 2026 National Championship, the network reported millions of viewers across all four rounds of the Playoff. The College Football Playoff National Championship between Miami and Indiana had 30 million viewers on its main broadcast alone. The Hoosiers’ win over the Hurricanes was the most-watched college football game since the inaugural CFP National Championship and the second most-watched of all time. ESPN averaged north of 14 million viewers in each round before the final. 

When it comes to dollars, according to the CFP, every team in the 12-team playoff is paid, “Four million for each team that makes the College Football Playoff (12 schools) and each team that advances to the CFP Quarterfinals (eight schools).” At the same time, a conference can receive six million for each school that advances in the CFP Semifinal and National Championship. Each conference has its own agreement in revenue sharing among member schools.

Outside of the dollars and views, the changing layout of the sport also has a heavy hand in the playoff expansion. With only 12 teams getting in, in reality — it’s 11, with the last spot going to the highest-ranked group of five teams, someone is always left out. Last year, Notre Dame won 10 games in a row after a 0-2 start and were famously left out of the playoff after being ranked in a majority of the previous selection rankings prior to the final selections. The same happened to BYU, who fell off the bubble after an 11-2 season after a loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship game. 

The list goes on for teams being left out of the playoff selection despite solid years. Nevertheless, the widening of the postseason pool also allows for more teams to jump in. The playoffs and postseason also hold more weight than ever on team success and roster building. 

Major programs are spending in the high millions to bring in players through the portal or from high school through Name, Image and Likeness. The budget, of course, varies depending on the athletic department, but with the expanded playoff and so much money being put into rosters or coaches’ contracts, like any major investment, eventually you want to see results. More teams in the playoffs means more “results” for coaches. 

To gain something, something must get cut. If a 24-team playoff is in the cards for the College Football Playoff, some changes are well in the fold. 

The first is fairly obvious if this were to become the new norm; the season would be starting sooner. As of right now, Week 0 is the earliest action for any College Football. Not everyone plays in Week 0; just 16 teams this season actually played a game. With nearly double the amount of playoff games, Week 0 could potentially become the new starting point for all College Football programs.

According to Thamel, the potential expansion would do away with conference championship games at the end of the season. Also on the chopping block is Bowl Season. The College Football Playoff currently begins in the third week of December before resuming toward the end of the month after the first round. Bowl season fills that void of games, but what once was a pillar of the postseason in College Football could be subject to the chopping block.

Until it’s the law of the land, questions will loom. Will the emphasis on big matchups between strong teams still hold the same weight with the selection committee when filling out a 24-team bracket? Does the calendar change? What stays and what goes? 

Sports are always evolving. There is no guarantee that the 24-team College Football Playoff can go into law. However, with the pieces starting to take shape, the guarantee may lean more toward this becoming a reality for College Football.