12 or 24? A Fan's Guide to the College Football Playoff Expansion Fight
By faNILy Team ·
If there's one topic that came up at every media day this month, it's the College Football Playoff. The current format has 12 teams. The question now is whether it grows, and by how much.
Here's a quick guide to where things stand, based on what was said and reported at media days.
Where the conferences stand
- Big 12: 24 teams. Deseret News reported that all 16 Big 12 head coaches back a 24-team field. The league is 0-2 in the 12-team era, so more access is a priority.
- SEC: not committed. SuperTalk Mississippi reported the SEC is the only Power Four conference that hasn't endorsed expanding beyond 12 teams, and that it wants more research on fan and media interest first. "We're not necessarily interested in finding the easiest path," commissioner Greg Sankey said.
That's the basic split: leagues that want more access pushing for a much bigger field, and the SEC asking for more homework before it signs on to anything.
What Sankey wants considered
Sankey's caution is worth understanding, because it's the fan's-eye view in a lot of ways. Per WAKA 8, he listed several factors that need weighing:
- Protecting the value of the regular season
- Measuring actual fan and media interest
- Respecting academic calendars and athlete well-being
- Deciding what happens to conference championship games
He also pointed to the SEC's current strength: five teams in last season's playoff, about 40% of live viewership among major conferences, and roughly 80,000 fans per game, WAKA 8 reported. A league in that position doesn't feel much urgency to change the format.
What a bigger bracket could mean for fans
Here's the trade-off in plain terms.
The case for 24: More teams stay in the hunt into November. More fan bases get a playoff game. Conferences outside the top two get more realistic access, which is exactly why Big 12 coaches are pushing for it.
The case for caution: When more teams get in, a single loss matters less. Big September and October games could feel less like must-wins. A longer postseason also means more games for players, which raises the well-being and academic-calendar questions Sankey mentioned.
Why it matters in the NIL era
The playoff isn't separate from the NIL and revenue-sharing conversation. Schools now pay athletes directly under a per-school cap, and conferences are hunting for revenue wherever they can find it. A bigger bracket would mean more postseason games, and more national exposure for more athletes.
That exposure matters for players' personal brands. A breakout playoff performance is the kind of moment that turns a regional name into one fans across the country want to follow. More playoff spots would mean more of those moments, spread across more programs, including ones outside the traditional powers.
What to watch
- Where the Big Ten and ACC land as the debate moves from podiums to meeting rooms
- Whether a compromise number between 12 and 24 gains traction
- Whether the SEC's research on fan and media interest changes its stance
Whatever the number ends up being, one thing's clear from media days: the people running college football are hearing from fans, and fan interest is part of the calculation.