College Football Playoff: Expansion brings more games, more access, more fun

The long national nightmare is over.

After months of discussion, hand-wringing, and even an ultimatum, the College Football Playoff is officially expanding beyond the currently constructed four-team invitational into an all-encompassing 12-team postseason format.

"This is a great day for college football," said Mark Keenum, President of Mississippi State University and chairman of the CFP Board of Managers. "I'm glad we are able to follow through and launch the expanded playoff early. It's very exciting for schools, alumni and everyone involved."

Indeed, it is time to shout hallelujah from the rooftops. More games, more fun, more access.

[12-team CFP is coming in 2024]

Those in charge of the postseason and college football itself finally listened to everybody with an ounce of common sense who recognized that the current setup was flawed, that it was far too exclusive a club for an entity that had undergone several shocks to the system in the ensuing decade since it was first implemented.

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The sport has evolved from a regional affair every Saturday at noon into very much a national event each week. Conferences like the Big Ten will soon span completely coast-to-coast, while the Big 12 will cross three time zones beginning in July. Skipping a bowl game was once taboo, but now it’s commonplace for those players with NFL aspirations. Name, Image and Likeness was once a novel concept and against the rules, but has since become central to every athletic department strategy.

The 12-team format — the brainchild of Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson, former Big 12 leader Bob Bowlsby, SEC boss Greg Sankey and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick — was born from countless gatherings in windowless airport hotel meeting rooms, and was actually announced nearly 18 months ago. It is a balanced effort that helps grow the sport nationally while highlighting the regional competitions that have formed the bedrock of college football for decades.

It will soon matter more than ever that you win your conference, both for the purposes of being in the playoff itself — with the requisite auto-bids for the top six champions — but also for seeding purposes. If you’re an SEC team wanting to avoid a 20-degree day and snow flurries at the Big House, well, better make it to Atlanta and win your conference title game.

Championship Weekend under the current setup underscores just how much will soon change in terms of stakes. Across the 10 conference championship games, only two have a direct bearing on this year’s semifinals (the Pac-12, and to a lesser extent the Big 12 in terms of seeding). Come 2024, all of them will mean something, as teams like Utah, Purdue and LSU, which this year can only play the role of spoiler, would have opportunities to steal bids themselves.

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"We're delighted to be moving forward," said Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff. "When the board expanded the playoff beginning in 2026 and asked the CFP Management Committee to examine the feasibility of starting the new format earlier, the Management Committee went right to work. More teams and more access mean more excitement.

"Everyone realized that this change is in the best interest of college football and pulled together to make it happen."

The amalgamation that has come to govern and guide the sport almost tripped on its own two feet to get to this point, however. SEC expansion a year ago derailed the initial approval of an expansion concept that everybody seemed to love, while USC and UCLA’s announced departure from the Pac-12 threw an additional wrench into the timing.

Then there was the most stubborn of all: the Rose Bowl.

The Granddaddy of Them All was a grand pain in the rear from almost the moment the plan to expand to 12 was hatched, making demands for exclusive TV windows and more.

The folks that made up the Rose Bowl Management Committee had their own selfish reasons to use any sort of leverage they could, of course. The sunset between the third and the fourth quarters of the game along the golden purple San Gabriel Mountains remains a treasure to ring in every New Year with. They also have to worry about the traditional Rose parade that winds through the city of Pasadena and is in large part the only reason the game exists.

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Yet the times, they are a changing, both in college football and in life. It took until the 11th hour and the threat of being left out entirely from the coming postseason structure to finally force the Rose Bowl's hand — at least until work begins on what things will look like for 2026 and beyond.

"The additional access, especially the home games, will generate additional excitement during the regular season," Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff remarked. "It’s a great day to be a college football fan.

"I just wish we could have done this a year ago."

It certainly is a great day to be a neutral fan at least, with that point hammered home by any official you speak to. But expansion in its upcoming form is not without its own flaws, and the bowl industry continues to influence those in charge. Fans could be asked to travel to up to three games on short notice over the chilly winter months, potentially crisscrossing the country in the process.

Having first-round games on campus will be a big win for everybody. The pageantry of a college football game on campus is unequaled at any level. Yet, only four teams get the opportunity to bring the games home, and those that receive a bye into the quarterfinals will, in some respects, get punished for winning too much and miss out on the chance to do the same.

Athletic directors of playoff regulars are already grumbling about the potential for lost revenue and branding opportunities from the neutral site setup. Kliavkoff and others have hinted that once discussions begin for a fresh contract covering the 2026 season and beyond, changes could happen.

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Then there’s the point raised several times over the years by Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney regarding the impact the extra games will have on players’ bodies. Unlike their professional counterparts, there’s no signing a new backup quarterback if one goes down in practice or a wide receiver tears an ACL in the middle of October. Teams have gone from playing 12 games during the BCS to 15 if you reach the national title game nowadays. It could be 16 or 17 in the expanded setup.

That issue goes hand-in-hand with the football calendar, too. CFP games in the future will not only have to go up against late-season NFL contests over the weekend but also deal with a compressed schedule and quick turnaround from a conference championship contest to the first round. Depending on TV windows, games are set to spill into Friday and possibly Thursday nights as well.

More football is great, but there are a few more problems that come with it.

Still, those are things that can easily be worked through with the benefit of some more breathing room and an official start date. For now, hotel rooms can be booked up, big stadium banners can get purchased and the gears of the CFP offices can finally move forward.

We’ve finally made it past the bickering and arrived at a 12-team College Football Playoff that is good for everybody. It’s a new day in the sport and cause for celebration.

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Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.