Question about this 24 team absurdity.

[TheOriginalCane]

maybe he meant the amount of games is a bit much for football... we're looking at what 12regular season and 4-6 playoffs depending on where you fall in ranking.... 16-18games...

24 teams will involve 8 byes and 16 first-round matchups. So, you know, 5 rounds. Not 6.

Currently, it's 4 rounds, but some of those teams play conference championship games.

Eliminate the championship games, add one extra round, it's all the same. Get the action started quicker.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

100% a money grab by the NCAA.

The NCAA organizes the basketball tournament.

The NCAA does NOT organize the football playoffs. Thus, the NCAA is not grabbing any money.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Math. It's simple math.

Week One Playoffs - 16 teams in playoffs.
Week Two Playoffs - 8 teams in playoffs.
Week Three Playoffs - 4 teams in playoffs
Week Four - National Championship.

16 teams times 2 would accommodate 32 teams - and only add one additional week.
But there's no real good reason for that.

When you get outside the math and throw in extras - that's just mess.

Just tell Notre Dame to tighten up - or GTFO. Whining little b***ches.

Adding a 5th round would not add one additional week if conference championship games are eliminated.

Which is what will happen.

 

[cookies]

The people in power who want 16 teams do not want:

1. To eliminate conference championship games

2. To go straight up 1 vs 16, 2 v 15, etc.

First, you should know that it is believed that ESPN owns up to 13 games (the current 11 games plus two more additional games). If that’s true, that may only leave 10 games up for bid — most of them first-round affairs pitting plenty of three- and four-loss programs.

From a television perspective, the worth of each of those games may be as little as $10 million, according to some experts, and as much as $25 million. Add in a few dollars ($50-75 million) in on-campus game revenue and you are left with a wide range.

Some say as little as $300 million and others say as much as $700 million. The key amount to keep in mind is $250 million — the estimated value of the 10 FBS conference championship games, which, in a 24-team format, would need to be eliminated and their amounts recuperated from an expanded postseason.

With push for 24-team CFP field ramping up, Greg Sankey and SEC holding fast against it

The CFP's annual two-day spring meetings produced no decision on a future format. But it might have paved the way for a more serious discussion moving forward.

sports.yahoo.com

The SEC title game is valued at least $80 million and as high as $100 million, according to those with knowledge of the projections. The Big Ten isn’t much lower. Can the leagues fill that budgetary hole?

Many of Sankey’s own members have publicly called for the elimination of a championship game that they believe has been devalued with a playoff expansion to 12 teams. There is one problem with that: The SEC is contractually obligated, through ESPN, to play the game.

After ACC and others throw support behind 24-team CFP, the ball is now in the SEC's court

Now that the other powerbrokers in college football have pulled an about-face and want a 24-team postseason, Greg Sankey's league (and ESPN) may be the only thing stopping it from happening.

sports.yahoo.com

The SEC’s title game is worth as much as $100 million, the Big Ten around $75 million, and the ACC and Big 12 games are each at or north of $50 million, according to the leagues’ estimations

 

[Cane_Mutiny]

A 24-team playoff means that 8-4 Iowa, the sixth best team in the B10, would have been in the field with a chance to win the national title last year.

For most serious programs, the regular season wouldn't matter anymore. Just sleepwalk your way to 9 wins, lock up a playoff spot, and then try to make a run in a single-elimination tournament.

One of the defining characteristics of college football is that the regular season is high stakes. This would effectively sacrifice that to create more high stakes playoff games.

 

[BS85]

Just make it double elimination at this point

 

[UMFarArcher]

The people in power who want 16 teams do not want:

1. To eliminate conference championship games

2. To go straight up 1 vs 16, 2 v 15, etc.

Just as long as conference championship games don't hold up the playoffs.

Choose your poison - conference games or National Championship Playoffs?

When you get to numbers like off-numbers like 24 teams - it's 24 week one, 12 week two, 6 week three . . . WHAT? Three teams? How's that supposed to work?

It's a load of crap - the simple arithmetic doesn't work. Some folks can take a very basic solution, and make it so complicated - no one is happy.

2, 4, 8,16. Four weeks.

That's plenty. Simple. Logical.

 

[CaneinBroward]

Can someone explain why the ACC, Bg12 and BIG favor the 24-team playoff and why the SEC and ESPN are against it?
What are the dynamics?

The ACC, Big XII, and B1G want guaranteed spots in the playoff. The $EC knows their schools get the media bias in the AP ranking which is what the CFP committee uses as a base point. I mean at least half of their schools had a place in the Top 25 AP poll EVERY week last season. Therefore, the $EC knows their schools will be well represented more often than not.

 

[hurricane-warnings]

I can see some 30yr old TV exec. thinking it's a good idea but I'm surprised it has as much support from the coaches. Most the people in here realize it is a terrible idea.

There is no appetite for another pro football league, minor league football or player's being employees of the school. No one wants to watch Miami led by 28yr Brad Kaaya. If JS was a minor league player for the Browns and played the Lions minor league team no one would care. But if a bunch of 3 stars who weren't good enough to be drafted to the minors played in THE GAME there would still be 100K people in the Big House.

It's like they don't understand why COLLEGE football is so popular. Go watch the Catholics vs Convicts and you'll understand why it is so popular. It's tradition, rivalries, player's being students, the alumni. In no scenario is a 1st round Vandy vs. IA better than GA vs AL for the SEC title.

The only way to save it and work is 16 teams. P4 with 4 teams each with the 1st 2 rounds in conference #1E v #2W so if the 2 best teams are in the same div. they don't meet in the first round. 1st round on campus. SEC title game in the Sugar bowl Big12 in the cotton etc. 4 conf. champs in the FF neutral.

Go back 20yrs between ACC including ND they've had 1 of the 4 best teams every year. Days of SEC #7 being way better than ACC #3 are over. P4 w/ combination of TX/CA/AZ making 16 teams all 4 conferences are strong. This is the way.

 

[cookies]

Just as long as conference championship games don't hold up the playoffs.

Choose your poison - conference games or National Championship Playoffs?

When you get to numbers like off numbers like 24 teams - it's 24 week one, 12 week two, 6 week three . . . WHAT? Three teams? How's that supposed to work?

It's a load of crap - the simple arithmetic doesn't work. Some folks can take a very basic solution, and make it so complicated - no one is happy.

2, 4, 8,16. Four weeks.

That's plenty. Simple. Logical.

I hear you — 16 straight up w/ no conference championship games would be fine by me however the SEC+ESPN aren’t going to allow it.

In the least likely 14 team model, which is what ESPN wants, the top two teams get byes from the 6 game first round, then the quarterfinals, semis, championship game. Only two games are created, and ESPN would own the rights to those two extra first round games. Conference championships are still held prior to the playoffs.

In the 16 team model, there’d essentially be a 4 team playin round before the first round. I’d guess that takes place during conference championship week although Im unsure. The top two teams would get double byes. Here is a mockup for what it would look like if it was imposed in 2024:

Four extra games are created in this 16 team model. ESPN owns 2 of them and would have first dibs on the bidding of the remaining 2.

This model is of course a ridiculous way to keep the B1G and SEC with an edge, virtually always the 1 and 2 seeds, while not sacrificing conference championship games or their relationship with Disney.

At this point, might as well keep 12; but they can’t keep 12 because Sankey told the ADs and coaches in the SEC that they would expand the playoffs in combination of going from 8 in-conference games to 9 in-conference games; and the Alabama AD + others have already called for the elimination of conference championship games. So he’s on the clock to get this done for ‘27 since he already failed to get an implementation in ‘26.
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The 24 team model would have 23 games, which is 12 games created, elimination of conference championships, and 8 teams would get a bye from the first round. ESPN would own two of the 12, and have first dibs on the 10 remaining games, however they can’t afford to pay for all of those.

16 teams in round 1 then 16 teams in round 2, then 8 to 4, and ends with the natty.
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There is a compromise between 16 and 24 which is 20; and 12 teams get a bye with 8 teams in a de facto playin round; 8 —> 16 —> 8 —> 4 —> 2. I think the non-SEC powers could be fine with that; but I’m unsure how much of the holdout is about access versus entrenchment.

ESPN wants 14 ideally and 16 at most, so the SEC+ESPN aren’t really communicating about a compromised solution. The b1g spoke of 20 back when they were the only non-16 voice. Now that they have everyone on their side, their camp has only spoken about 24.