College Football Playoff: 24-Team Expansion Is a Blatant Money Grab

The College Football Playoff has become a national fascination and a big money-maker for the NCAA, conferences, and networks. Right now, at the college football spring meetings, the conferences are considering expanding the playoff to 24 teams. Despite the momentum this proposal has gotten, it probably is not a good idea.

The basic motivating factor behind the desire to expand the College Football Playoff is money. Now that players are getting paid, schools need to recoup that income. One way to do that is if they get paid for the conferences to get paid by the networks for more playoff games. Do you think the playoffs will expand?

The Proposal Of the Big Ten to Expand the College Football Playoff

There is a proposal from the Big Ten Conference to expand the College Football Playoff to 24 teams. That proposal has been recently supported by the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 Conference, and Notre Dame.

The Southeastern Conference has counter-proposed an expansion to 16 teams. At least as of right now, the Southeastern Conference is dogged in its proposal. Both proposals would eliminate the conference championship games. The College Football Playoff in 2026 will be 12 teams.

Not A Good Idea

College Football Playoff expansion might be lucrative, but it is likely not a good idea. Expanding the playoffs would devalue the regular season games and would have had a profound impact on the 2025 season, making games that were thrilling and had a big impact relatively meaningless. Here are some examples.

Last season, the University of Alabama had to beat Auburn University in the “Iron Bowl” to stay in the playoff field. They blew a 17-point lead before rallying to win the game in the final minutes. Under the new proposed 24-team field, both teams would be in.

Oklahoma needed to beat LSU to hold on to a berth in the playoff and trailed with five minutes left before a late score. With a 24-team playoff, both teams are in and would likely have opening-round home games.

Michigan needed a miracle upset of Ohio State to have any playoff hope. It was possible as the team from Michigan beat their rivals in Columbus in 2024. Instead, the Wolverines lost by 18. With a 24-team playoff, they are in. Is it possible that “The Game” becomes meaningless?

Both Texas and Vanderbilt needed to beat rivals Texas A&M and Tennessee, respectively, and hope for some help to get into the field. They both won important games, but they did not get the help they needed. With a 24-team playoff, they are both in regardless.

And, what of the Army-Navy game? Now it is played on the second Saturday of December. It is the only game on that day. However, with the additional games associated with a 24-team College Football Playoff, there would be more games, including on that day. The Army-Navy game would need to move one week earlier, or, as Army coach Jeff Monkin wants, to Thanksgiving Day weekend.

What It All Means

At any rate, though there would be more College Football Playoff Games under the proposal, that would make up for the lost revenue from the elimination of the conference championship games. However, a bunch of interesting and exciting regular season games would be lost. Those who are proposing expanding the playoffs to 24 teams need to take this into account.