College playoff is expected to expand to 24 teams in 2027
College football is reportedly planning to expand its playoff format from 12 to 24 teams by 2027 to increase revenue. Critics argue that this expansion may dilute the quality of games and exacerbate the disparity between top-tier programs and smaller schools.
Why it matters
The commercialization of college sports continues to reshape the landscape of amateur athletics, prioritizing broadcast revenue over competitive balance.
The best way for any business to balance the budget is to: (1) decrease costs; and (2) increase revenue.
For college football, the effort to cut expenses includes declaring CHAOS! due to the long-belated arrival of free-market forces to the business model and to beg Congress for a license to cheat, through an antitrust exemption. And the strategy for making more money comes from increasing the inventory.
It’s no surprise, then, that the powers-that-be want to expand the size of the College Football Playoff from 12 teams to 24. More games played means more games on TV means more money from the TV network that televises the games. And so, via the TV network that will benefit from turning some of the meaningless bowl games into meaningful playoff games, a deal to double the playoff field is coming . And the 24-team playoff would happen as soon as 2027.
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