College Football Playoff Expanding Over Money and Nothing Else

Since the introduction of the playoff in College Football, Pandora’s box has been open, allowing the four-team playoff to expand to 12 teams and soon to 24. While the College Football Playoff isn’t at 24 teams yet, ESPN’s exclusive 30-day negotiating window has been triggered to discuss media rights, and if CFP leaders get the deal they want, the College Football Playoff will go to 24 teams whether fans like it or not.

🚨College Football Thoughts 🚨

Does the College Football Playoff Really Need to Expand to 28 teams.

Expansion on March Madness Ruined that Tournament #cfbplayoff #cfb #ncaa @bodkins_nick pic.twitter.com/GNH21NMPH9

— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) August 16, 2025

Nobody asked for this. At most, fans wanted eight teams in the College Football Playoff field. Four might not have been enough; eight is perfect, but everyone is fine with 12 teams, even with five spots guaranteed for the Power 4 conferences and the Group Six. Even then, most of the field is set except for one or two teams. And if Notre Dame is in the Top 12 at the Final Ranking before Selection Sunday, they are in.

So why are the leaders of College Football ruining the sport that has become so popular? It’s simple: money. As WWE superstar Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase always said, “Everyone’s got a price for the Million Dollar Man.” 

And the College Football Playoff (CFP) is about to get its price. Don’t kid yourself and say it’s about more teams having a shot at the National Title. Nope, it is about money. They want a TV deal that satisfies all parties involved, because the lone holdout remains the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

If the College Football Playoff expands to 24 teams, 23 teams and the highest Group of Six team, that means there are no more conference championship games. Without championship games, these conferences lose hundreds of millions. Not just the SEC, but the B10, Big 12, ACC, Pac-12, American Conference and so on. But mostly the Power 4 schools. So those conferences want to be made whole to offset the $200 million loss from losing their championship games.

The SEC alone makes over $100 million from their championship every year in Atlanta. So ESPN and the CFP (College Football Playoff) need to agree on the exclusive rights before October 9th. After that, it is open to other networks like CBS, Fox, and NBC Sports. So a lot of money is at stake if the College Football Playoff expands.

It’s not just the TV revenue; it’s the guaranteed money these schools get for hosting games on campus. Under the current 12-team format, only the first-round games are on college campuses. So teams that get a bye to the second round have to play neutral-site games. Those teams see what happened and want games on their campuses too.

So under the new format, the first two rounds of the playoff would be played on college campuses before moving to neutral sites. However, the idea is to start two weeks after the regular season ends, in the second week of December, but there are some hurdles to clear with that plan. Mainly the schedule and the Army-Navy game.

See, the Army-Navy Game is played the second Saturday of December. That is the final standalone game of the College Football regular season. For now, it is a permanent fixture because a Presidential Order keeps it there as a standalone game. So that needs to be fixed.

🚨Night Cap Recap 🚨

College Football Playoff Format Staying at 12 Teams

24 teams too many but is 16 teams coming? #CFBPlayoff #cfb pic.twitter.com/weP1Zv9n3x

— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) January 23, 2026

What about the playing schedule itself? This year, the National Championship Game is scheduled for January 25th. That is two weeks into the second semester for most colleges. Ideally, you can get the National Title game on January 1st, or at least back to January 7th or 8th. But that means starting the season earlier and taking a week off for the Army-Navy game, and maybe that wouldn’t be a bad thing.

These players will pay a physical price. Yes, they play consecutive weeks in the regular season, but they do have a bye week to recover. We have seen the cost some contending teams pay in the playoffs, losing key guys. So you have to factor in health and safety.

But mainly it is about preserving the regular season and making Saturdays feel important again. Going to 24 teams ruins the regular season and makes big games inside these conferences meaningless. Take the slate on September 26th that saw (1) Texas take on (14) Tennessee, (4) Ole Miss take on (21) Florida, along with (23) Texas A&M take on (10) LSU, (20) Oregon take on (12) USC, (17) Iowa take on (18) Michigan, and (19) Missouri take on (24) Mississippi St.

The results of these games wouldn’t matter in a 24-team playoff because the losers are still alive. In the current format, another loss or two knocks a team out of playoff contention. Sports, like life, are supposed to be hard, and that is what makes College Football so special. One loss in the four-team playoff, and even the old BCS, was a killer for teams. But again, it depends on when the loss was.

But 24 teams take away what makes Saturday special. Every game matters. And you can clearly see right now that the fans know the games don’t matter, and even the talk of a 24-team playoff hurts the product. Ratings are down 11 percent, but up for SEC games on ABC. Some matchups are awful, but fans know what is best for the sport, not the money-driven leaders.

The atmosphere in college football is like no other, and stadiums will always be packed, but those at home know some of it is predetermined by the school’s name and history. Whether we like it or not, reputation still matters in College Football.

The sport is losing what made it special. The atmospheres will never die, but the lustre around the games themselves is gone. Rivalries are lost. Load management will enter the fray, and regular-season games won’t matter as they do in College Basketball. Just like the Bowl Games no longer matter.

Being exclusive is perfectly fine. College Football has always been that way. Letting more teams into the party doesn’t make it better; it just dilutes it. The best teams should be in the playoff; mediocrity shouldn’t rule the day, and results should matter.

But in a sport that is making millions, if not billions, of dollars, it still comes down to money, not what is best for the sport. What is best for the sport is keeping it as is or going to eight teams. Going down to eight won’t happen, but instead, the CFP wants to expand for money reasons, not anything else.

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