Expanding the soon-to-be expanded College Football Playoff already? Just chill, Big Ten and SEC

Ideally, the people that run the College Football Playoff wouldn’t be discussing expanding the soon-to-be expanded College Football Playoff before the soon-to-be expanded College Football Playoff has even officially expanded.

Then again, this is college football. Nothing seems to happen on time — either fast or slow.

Tuesday, the format for the expanded 12-team playoff that will determine the champion in 2024 and 2025 was finally announced — just six months before the start of the season.

By Wednesday, the powers that be (which is increasingly just the Big Ten and SEC) were laying out options to expand it to 14 teams in 2026 and beyond. The proposals include additional automatic qualifiers, disproportionate revenue sharing and all sorts of other ideas that would benefit … the Big Ten and SEC.

A better idea would be to allow the sea change of the 12-team model to play out for a year or two — maybe kick the tires on what works and what doesn’t, what needs change and what doesn’t.

Jumping from four teams to 12 is already a shock to the system. It is almost assuredly for the better, but a test drive wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The Big Ten and SEC, however, aren’t willing to find out things such as how the selection process plays out, what the impact on the regular season will be, how home field playoff games work and if extending the college football calendar deep into the new year is a good idea? Next season’s title game will be played on January 20.

There is power to grab and money to be guaranteed. Why wait?

Let’s start with what is coming for the next two seasons — a 12-team model that provides an automatic bid to the five highest rated conference champions. It is a near mathematical certainty that the four highest will be the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. The top four will receive first-round byes.

The…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/expanding-the-soon-to-be-expanded-college-football-playoff-already-just-chill-big-ten-and-sec-185332138.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-02-22 18:53:32

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