It appears the PO expansion to 24 is near. Hats off to Tony Petitti, who speaks quietly but carries a B1G stick.

On3

College Football Playoff nearing deal to expand to 24 teams

The College Football Playoff is expanding once again. According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, a deal is being neared to expand to 24 teams. The format is

Thank you Jon, for staying on top of the very important topic for everyone in the forum!

It's the right thing and I've been a long time proponent of a top 24 team playoff.

However with the extra games and NIL spreading out this will cause will reduce the odds we win a natty in any given year. We have missed our high probability window.

But hey, hello 9-3 teams that can turn it around and make a deep run, it will be more fun.

Its good for the teams and fan bases outside the Power 2. Hopefully, programs won't start pulling the NBA and MLB move that scratch players on short notice any given week ( to rest players "for the sake of the season"). That is the biggest concern for me.

I certainly hope this ends expansion forever. Lord knows football is nothing like March Madness.

16 hours ago, Mike West said:

Its good for the teams and fan bases outside the Power 2. Hopefully, programs won't start pulling the NBA and MLB move that scratch players on short notice any given week ( to rest players "for the sake of the season"). That is the biggest concern for me.

I certainly hope this ends expansion forever. Lord knows football is nothing like March Madness.

It is possible there will be enough competitive teams outside the P2 to kill off the P2 super league talk. 30ish teams would be too small anyways for college.

I think the big problem remaining is the G6/P4 dynamic.

136 teams for one trophy is stupid too.

They need to break it into two tiers and develop a specific process for movement between conferences at different levels.

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by Solar

13 minutes ago, Solar said:

It is possible there will be enough competitive teams outside the P2 to kill off the P2 super league talk. 30ish teams would be too small anyways for college.

I think the big problem remaining is the G6/P4 dynamic.

136 teams for one trophy is stupid too.

They need to break it into two tiers and develop a specific process for movement between conferences at different levels.

Great point. Today, FBS has 138 teams.

Great to see this actually moving forward.

And it sounds very likely that we will be dumping the rather worthless conference championship game, which is definitely the right move.

Also, having the opening two rounds played on home field sites is absolutely the right decision. Teams, and fans, with the best record should stop being punished with a so-called neutral site.

I like 24 teams. That's means about 19% (24/124) of all qualified teams will have a shot at the title --- Which is close to the same as in college basketball... 18% (64/363).

24 teams opens it up a bit, but doesn't dilute it.

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by Desert Duck

With playoffs expanding I think this would be a great time to convert FCS games to purely exhibitions. No counting scores or stats. Treated them like glorified Spring Games. Let the fans gather and get rowdy feel like footballs back in early fall but also let your starters maybe just play a few series to work off rust then empty the bench and let the 3rd and 4th string eat.

It's somewhat silly how the offense is clearly having problems but the seasons stats are inflated by an 84-0 score against Portland St. Teams would still make money filling the house, Fans would still be entertained and excited about the new season. Stats wouldn't be inflated and hiding problems and starters would have more in the tank and less wear and tear come playoff time.

16 hours ago, Desert Duck said:

Great to see this actually moving forward.

And it sounds very likely that we will be dumping the rather worthless conference championship game, which is definitely the right move.

Also, having the opening two rounds played on home field sites is absolutely the right decision. Teams, and fans, with the best record should stop being punished with a so-called neutral site.

I like 24 teams. That's means about 19% (24/124) of all qualified teams will have a shot at the title --- Which is close to the same as in college basketball... 18% (64/363).

24 teams opens it up a bit, but doesn't dilute it.

Sports media influencers are still crying rivers over this change that it dilutes the value of the regular season and too many teams that could never win.

They fail to connect the dots that in the BCS era there were typically only 2-4 teams that could truly win it all by the end of the season, then with the 4 team playoff, there were typically only 3-6 teams that could win it all at the end of the season, and now we are at 12 with about 8-10 teams that could win it all at the end of the season (Remember Miami almost didn't make the playoffs and were one drive away from winning the Natty)

At 24 teams I would expect that there will be 12-16 teams any given year capable of winning the Natty at the end of the season, which is far more entertaining.

You finally are assured it isn't a beauty contest of finicky young men where blemishes are more highly valued than your successes.

If you watch sports purely for the suspense, go watch baseball or soccer. Idon't like being scared every week about missing out on goals you feel your team deserves to achieve if they play one bad game.

And certainly at 24 teams the risk of leaving out a team that would have won it all goes to almost zero

And this will help contribute to getting rid of the long layoffs that affects teams unequally.

And it will get rid of conference championships that make teams potentially play each other 3 times in the same season, risking injury for seemingly little benefit.

It will also keep players from sitting out post season games, since they have something worth playing for.

Lastly it will draw more eyeballs and interest to the sport with more meaningful post season games.

Look at that list of positives! It's only backwards thinking that has taken us over 2 decades to get here, but it's finally here. Thank goodness.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Solar

At 24, I'd rather see more G6 conference champs and or second or third place ACC or B12 teams than 8th or 9th place SEC or BIG teams. I think it's better for the entire country to feel involved rather than just being a big 2 with 40 teams.