CFB Needs to Expand the Playoffs
I have grown up watching football all my life, and I have played football for 11 years. It’s the only sport I have ever known or cared for. When I was little, I loved waking up on Saturday morning in the fall to watch college football and then doing it all over again on Sunday watching the NFL. My dad and I always talk football together and what we think about certain teams and the occurrences that are relevant. We make little bets and predictions with each other, and it has evolved into a bonding expereince that we have both enjoyed.
Recently, the college football playoff committee and other officials have met to determine a possible playoff expansion from the original 4 teams to something bigger. This is something that the majority of college football fans around the world want. Some critics say that expanding the playoffs outside of four teams is not in college football’s best interest.
Some people say that expanding the playoffs is too strenuous on players and teams. It is too much work and coordination, or that after the 4th seed the chances of winning it all are extremely low. All these reasons just sound like excuses to me. If you asked many college teams, they would say expand the playoffs. It gives such great opportunity to more than four teams.
Why should we expand the college football playoffs?
For a multitude of reasons, the college football playoff must be expanded to more than 4 teams. Expanding the playoffs would mean college campus football. The two meaningful bowl games are priced at a ridiculous rate. The final four bowl games are priced anywhere from $800 a ticket to upwards of $5,000. Most college football fans can’t afford that.
By expanding the playoffs this would give teams a chance to host a playoff game in their home stadium which could bring down ticket prices in the first couple rounds of play. It gives fans a chance to see their team play in the playoffs for a reasonable price.
This would also give viewers and players more high-level competitive football. Watching teams play each other that would never play each other in the regular season would be a lot more entertaining. Expanding the playoffs would give us more quality football. It would give us high level non-conference games that we wouldn’t see anywhere else. It would give us the opportunity to see matchups the country has been wanting to see for years.
The college football playoffs bring in millions of viewers. ESPN averages around 20 million viewers during the college football national championship. But in 2015 the Ohio State vs. Oregon national championship set a record high viewership for ESPN, with 33.4 million viewers. This goes to show fans and people around the country enjoy their college football. So why not expand the playoffs and give people what they want?
The sports world has a culture for playoffs. Every year, 38% of NFL teams make the playoffs. 20% of NCAA men’s basketball teams make March Madness. The MLB playoffs allow for 54% of teams to make the playoffs. And finally, the NBA, over 50% of teams make the playoffs. But if we look at college football, only 3.1% of teams make the playoffs. That’s 4 out of 128 teams.
We see the same teams repeatedly. If we expand the playoffs, more teams will have a meaningful bowl game. Which would slow down the player opt out. Many high-level players will opt out of the final bowl game to prevent injury. Having a more inclusive playoff bracket would encourage players to not opt out. Because they are actually playing for a meaningful national championship, not the Mayo Bowl.
Finally, this would simply give more teams a shot at the national title. Now obviously the first few ranked teams are the favorites to win. But upsets are still a thing, and there are plenty of teams that go undefeated and don’t have a shot at the title. Such as 2017 UCF, 2021 UC, and a few other group of five schools.
For those who may not know, the group of five schools are any teams not in the BIG 10, BIG 12, ACC, SEC, or PAC 12. This would eliminate the “what if” factor if a team got into the playoffs. Well now we could see what happens if a doubted team gets into the playoffs.
It is important that us college football fans continue to talk about and influence others in the expansion of the college football playoffs. The more the committee hear fans talking about it the better chance we have of watching a more entertaining college football playoff.