24-Team Playoff Would End Conference Title Games — SkimNews
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- College Football Playoff is reportedly moving to a 24-team field, a format that would eliminate conference championship games.
- Applied to last year's standings, the last at-large bid under a 24-team field would have gone to 8-4 Iowa (0-4 vs. AP Top 25), with 9-3 Georgia Tech, 9-3 Michigan, 8-5 Duke, and 8-4 Illinois also in the bubble.
- Conferences will lose tens of millions in rights fees from canceled title games, and the source notes there is no clear evidence the expanded playoff will produce a financial windfall to offset those losses.
- Per 247Sports figures cited in the piece, Auburn, Nebraska, and Wisconsin each spend over $30 million on rosters, while Rutgers, South Carolina, and Arkansas each spend over $20 million — programs the source argues the expansion is designed to give a perceived postseason pathway.
- The FCS-level 24-team playoff awards 11 auto-bids to non-HBCU conference champions, a structure the piece contrasts favorably with the FBS plan because it preserves meaningful conference championship races.
- This week's Notre Dame vs. BYU and Ohio State vs. Indiana matchups illustrate how regular-season games between ranked opponents would lose stakes under a 24-team format.
Why it matters: Donor-funded programs like Auburn, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are already burning $20-30 million annually on rosters without a realistic CFP path under a 12-team field; a 24-team field manufactures a perceived postseason return for them, but conferences lose tens of millions in cancelled title-game rights fees with no guarantee the expanded playoff recovers that revenue.
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