By Adam Roberts – 6/18/2021
The debate over the College Football Playoff’s possible expansion can now commence in full.
A review of possibly expanding the College Football Playoff to 12 teams is officially underway.
The CFP management committee looked over the working group’s proposal to expand the playoff today. Executive Director Bill Hancock has said the next step is a board of managers meeting next week.
Under the proposal, the expanded playoff would include the six highest-ranked conference champions and the six remaining highest-ranked teams determined by the CFP selection committee. The four highest-ranked conference champions would get a first-round bye and be seeded one through four. The other teams would play each other in a format similar to March Madness for the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. That includes the five-seed playing the 12-seed and number six playing number eleven. The higher seeds would also host the games.
Under this new format, Wisconsin would have been able to compete for a national championship a number of times over the last few seasons. But the question will become if the value of a college football championship will become diluted with more teams in the field. It also raises questions of player safety for the athletes, although the financial ramifications will be hard for the CFP to turn down.