The 24-Team Playoff is a Grift That Mortgages the Soul of College Football

Let's be clear: this is my opinion, and it is a grim one. In my view, college football has officially passed the point of no return.

For years, critics warned that endless playoff expansion would ruin the regular season. We survived the four-team era and the 12-team field, where the bubble remained a place of quality and the stakes remained high. But as CBS Sports first reported, the move toward a 24-team playoff is a massive strike to the heart of the sport. We are no longer talking about rewarding excellence; we are talking about manufacturing a return on investment for booster wallets.

According to CBS Sports, the leaders of the sport have essentially mortgaged the soul of the game for money. The most egregious casualty of this expansion is the reported end of conference championship games. In a sport where winning your conference and beating your rivals should be the primary markers of success, we are instead pivoting to a system where the national championship is the only metric that matters.

Why would the powers-that-be do this? The answer is as simple as it is cynical. Donors are pouring tens of millions of dollars into mediocre rosters, and the administration needs to give them a reason to keep doing it. CBS Sports cites 247Sports reporting that schools like Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Auburn are spending over $30 million on their rosters, while Arkansas, South Carolina, and Rutgers are spending more than $20 million.

In a 12-team world, these programs had no realistic path to the playoff. In a 24-team world, they can at least lie to their donors and pretend a path exists. It is a grift designed to ensure that South Carolina and Maryland can pretend they aren't lighting money on fire.

To understand the precipitous drop in quality, look at what a 24-team bubble would have looked like last year, as analyzed by CBS Sports. An 8-4 Iowa team that went 0-4 against AP Top 25 opponents would have claimed the final at-large spot. Other bubble teams would have included 8-4 Illinois, 8-5 Duke, and 9-3 Michigan. We are moving toward a future where fans are expected to simply 'keep it moving' through mediocre matchups, such as No. 19 USC against No. 14 Tennessee.

Worst of all, this isn't even a guaranteed financial windfall. CBS Sports notes that conferences will lose tens of millions in rights fees by canceling conference title games, with no guarantee of additional profit.

The integrity of the game is being traded for a glorified preseason. When games like Ohio State vs. Indiana or Notre Dame vs. BYU become mere check-ins with limited stakes, the fabric of the sport unravels. While the FCS model proves a 24-team playoff can work by tying auto-bids to 11 non-HBCU conferences to keep championship races crucial, the college football elite have no interest in breadth. They are focused entirely on keeping control of the access.

Getting into the postseason is meant to be a difficult achievement. There are supposed to be consequences for losing in the regular season. Without those, we aren't playing a sport anymore; we're running a donor-funded exhibition. What is the point?