Debate has raged in college football over the question of whether to expand the playoff pool from 12 to 24 teams. And the battle lines are often predictable.
Coaches are looking for more teams. For coaches, making the playoffs is the best way to keep their careers going from one year to the next.
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Broadcasters like ESPN want i status quo. Many playoff teams will also undermine the bowl schedule, which is already slimmed down given the current size of the playoff field.
Between conferences, the SEC has yet to approve the extension. Commissioner Greg Sankey spoke Monday of the conference’s reluctance to join its power conference peers in the push for 24.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Sankey said, via ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “People tell me that, but I don’t know if he pays attention to college sports. Positions seem to change a lot.”
The SEC has yet to make a final decision on the appropriate size of the CFP field.
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“I’m not against 24 or 28,” Sankey said. “We have to inform the decision-making process. I think we did a good job of informing our position last year on 16th. We will consider other ideas, for sure, this week and move forward.”
The concern comes from making the field too big, too fast. It will have an impact on the regular season that won’t be fully seen until the new field is in place.
“When professional sports add to their postseason, it’s always a bit of a change,” Sankey said. “Four to 12 [in the CFP] it was a reminder, but I think it was worth it. You want to be aware of how far you’re going, and that’s to understand the competitive implications and maybe bring more parties into the conversation, and make a decision because . . . a game that may not have the same kind of ratio, if you will, or that kind of same value because both teams can be in the middle [the playoff].
“That’s small, but the power to bring many groups to the discussion can be [to create] value in the normal period. Some of it you can count, some of that strikes me as a matter of judgment.”
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Here is the truth. Regardless of the size of the field, the last team to miss the cut will have the pressure they should have been under – that they would have run the table if they had had the chance (e.gNotre Dame in 2025). If the field becomes so large that the first team on the other side of the line may not have a real chance of winning it all, most teams entering it will be slated to be knocked out in the first round.
Last year, Tulane and James Madison had no business in the field of 12 — and their first-round games proved it. Many teams will turn out for many games like that.
The best outcome would be to create a structured league (or leagues) that would award playoff spots based on wins and losses, with schedules driven not by chasing dollars or tying patsies but by true competitive balance. Perhaps a series of leagues makes sense, with relegation and promotion available in every system.
It has become fashionable to cry foul in college football, as it has to do with players getting paid. Chaos has always existed, with competing votes and uneven schedules and often the feeling that the team that wins the “championship” isn’t really the best team.
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A complete overhaul will eliminate a lot of confusion. A super league, or series of leagues, would allow for the creation of a multi-employer bargaining unit that would eventually leave the field for sports players and make the players union members, with the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities that apply to non-athletic employees in the NFL.
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to get everyone on the same page, because big plans and power conferences don’t want to risk losing money or influence. But if a game is really serious about ending chaos, it doesn’t start by limiting players’ ability to lead. It starts with programs and conferences to see that the whole program is not working.
Maybe that’s why the SEC stuck with the playoff field expansion. As college football looks like a professional league, those who care about college football will begin to argue that it should be a professional league. If that happens, agencies like the SEC will lose the power and money they have been able to maintain under the current system.
