Pros and Cons of College Football Playoff Expansion

The prospect of college football playoff expansion is very real. Yet, high-profile officials from numerous conferences are not convinced of the benefits. This is a battle that’s bound to run on for weeks to come.

The attention of football odds today might be on the NFL postseason, but the college football playoffs are in the news. Just before Georgia saw off Atlanta in the title game, discussions took place about potentially expanding the NCAAF postseason to 12 teams.

A meeting on January 10th didn’t lead to an agreement, with Bob Bowlsby saying the 10 FBS Commissioners ‘didn’t get close to unanimity’.

The conflict goes beyond the size of expanded college football playoffs. There’s disagreement over the revenue sharing, over which teams would get an automatic place, and bowl games, which have been a controversial topic in recent weeks.

Benefits of expanded college football playoffs

Just like with the expansion of the NFL playoffs, money is the first thing that comes to mind. Television screens across North America tune in to the college football playoffs – adding more games means more revenue.

Beyond the cynicism of maximizing the dollars earned, there are decent sporting reasons to want larger playoffs.

It becomes more accessible. One-loss teams have missed out in recent years, and with just four teams, at least one Power Five conference is not represented in the postseason. These are obvious, and unsurprising, complaints about a four-team postseason, but they are real issues with the current format.

More playoff football also means more elite teams playing against each other. How can that be a bad thing? We want to see the top-ranked schools matching up in games that actually matter. Potentially, a quarter-final round could even be played on campus sites, giving an extra advantage to the top seeds.

Downsides to expanded playoffs

Many schools already believe they are playing too many games, however.

It’s a busy schedule for a college athlete, and those that regularly make the playoffs would be looking at an even more hectic end to the season.

One alternative is to remove conference championship games. Given how lucrative these are, that seems like a longshot. Expanding the playoffs is fundamentally a desire to add games, and that appears to be the greatest impasse in negotiations at the moment.

Players are overworked. Many already withdraw from bowl games over injury fears. Sure, expanded playoffs are competitive, and would be a chance to improve your draft stock, but would players believe it to be worth the risk if they put in a great regular season?

Ultimately, expanding the playoffs requires an agreement, and they are a long way from that as of January, 17th 2022. There are so many issues to iron out. They are yet to agree on the number of teams or on any further details.

Perhaps 12 is too many. Maybe this is part of a process of college football expansion, with a step to six or eight in the coming seasons before eventually increasing.

The workload is a very real issue, as is qualification. There are plenty of benefits to increasing the size of the postseason, but there’s a long way to go before it becomes a reality.