Board approves expansion of College Football Playoff
College Football continues to evolve before us as the College Football Playoff Board of Managers approved expansion of the playoff to 12 teams, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Currently the College Football Playoff contract is expected to run through 2026, but according to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, the hope is the expanded playoff will get instituted as early as 2024 or 2025.
The playoff, which expanded to four teams in 2014, will feature the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large bids.
Breaking: The CFP Board of Managers has decided on a 12-team College Football Playoff, sources told @PeteThamel.
The 12-team model is expected to start in 2026, after the current contract, according to a source. pic.twitter.com/IIwyJPnM5i
— ESPN (@espn) September 2, 2022
This is the plan that was originally proposed by a committee that included former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby before The Alliance (Big Ten, Pac-12, and ACC) voted against expansion at the 11th hour.
Even after expansion was shot down, it seemed only a matter of time before expansion talks returned to the forefront. The potential earnings for the conferences and their member schools became too much for expansion to remain on the back burner.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will receive first round byes. Here’s what the field would have looked like if the 2021 season was under a 12-team playoff.
Last season’s CFP picture with 12 👀 pic.twitter.com/1Ztga20sDe
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 2, 2022
We can argue about whether or not teams 5-12 have much of a shot, but you can’t argue that those matchups wouldn’t be incredibly compelling. And that’s why playoff expansion made sense.
Playoff expansion will keep more teams in contention for the national championship later into the season. While teams like Alabama remain the favorite, an expanded playoff opens up more opportunities for more players to play meaningful games in December and January. That’ll keep fans and players more engaged than the current bowl season provides.
Time will tell what the overall impact to the sport playoff expansion will have, the move to 12 will create a highly anticipated postseason whenever the 12-team playoff officially begins.
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