The College Football Playoff is sacrificing its soul to be an ATM for conferences with expansion to 24 teams

INDIANAPOLIS - We are on the cusp of the college football playoff once again undergoing a drastic change in teams allowed into the postseason, and there are plenty of fans across the sport asking why it's needed.

That question, along with plenty of others, is the catalyst of the most impactful kerfuffle we have seen in recent memory involving the college football universe.

But, the answer to said argument is pretty simple when you peel through the layers of talking points each conference commissioner will recite over the next few weeks.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PREPARING EXPANSION TO 24 TEAMS IN 2027, WITH MORE GAMES COMING TO CAMPUSES ACROSS THE COUNTRY Money.

This entire ordeal can be traced back to the infamous BCS formula, which captivated audiences with computer rankings that led to fans essentially yelling at computers at seasons end.

INSIDE CFP EXPANSION BATTLE AS SEC, BIG TEN AND TV NETWORKS FIGHT FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S NEXT BIG MOVE Fast forward to 2026, college football fans are vastly united in their stance that a jump from 12 to 24 teams is just not warranted during this current era of the sport.

Sure, we are watching schools across the country make tough decisions about the ramifications that have come with increased spending within the sport.

Because schools are now spending a large amount of money on piecing together rosters , with college football being the main driving force in universities paying their athletic department bills, conference officials have decided that they will use the College Football Playoff as their own line of credit to help pay the bills that keep accumulating.

If you haven’t noticed over the past five years, we are now living in a professional sports model, within what was once described as amateur sports.

The amount of money that is needed to keep up with rival schools has shot through the perceived roof, with some programs spending upwards of $50 million this season to compete for a CFP title.

The thinking behind the closed doors of universities mostly centers around the idea that if they are going to spend that amount of money for a roster, they need more assurances that they will also receive a spot in the postseason, or at least in some way justify this thinking.

COACHES PUSH FOR 24-TEAM CFP, AS COLLEGE FOOTBALL HEADS TOWARDS PARTICIPATION TROPHY TERRITORY Now, when a team finishes the regular season with an 8-4 record, they'll be able to hang a banner inside the football facility that reads 'College Football Playoff First Round', which they know is not the flex that it has been over the past two seasons.

Yes, remember that we are only two years into the already expanded playoff system, after starting at four teams.