By: Lucas Delgado
November 24, 2024
Photo Credit; ESPN Press Room
In a season loaded with storylines related to conference realignment and NIL, one of the biggest points of intrigue in the 2024 college football season was the expanded playoff format. Since the College Football Playoff’s inauguration in 2014, there had always been talk about expanding beyond four teams. Cases like Ohio State earning a playoff spot over Big Ten champion Penn State in 2016 and the absence of undefeated UCF in 2017’s playoffs had people wondering what a larger playoff would look like. In 2022, that prospect became a reality, as the CFP Committee voted to expand the playoff to 12 teams in 2026, eventually moving the expansion to 2024. After nearly two years of hype, ESPN finally aired the first rankings reveal of the 2024 season on November 5th.
The program started by making some comedic parallels to the 2024 Presidential Election which took place on the same night by referring to the teams as coalitions seeking voter support, before explaining the new system’s format and diving into the first ever 12 team playoff rankings. The new playoff format sees the top four conference champions get automatic byes, with another spot reserved for the fifth best conference champion and the remaining seven spots being for at-large teams. This format added an interesting new layer to the Playoff Rankings show that was much more limited in the CFP’s past iteration: Bracketology. Similar to College Basketball, the analysts on the show took an in depth look at all the scenarios.Taking major outstanding regular season matchups and potential conference championship matchups into account, they determined which programs had a chance of making the playoffs. Like college basketball, a longer playoff with more opportunities for small school underdog stories can help increase the viewership and revenue of the College Football Postseason.
College Basketball’s postseason - referred to as March Madness - is known for its size, playing host to 64 teams and ensuring that a mix of conference champions and other high ranking teams are represented, which is very similar to the new football format. March Madness has been carrying the significant load of the NCAA’s revenue for decades. Of the $1.29 Billion in revenue reported in 2023, 80% came from March Madness. The increased amount of games and diversity in the schools competing opens the door to more bottom line revenue from ticket sales, as well as a heightened interest in the tournament’s storylines. In March Madness, a smaller school has the chance to make a deep postseason run, which generates interest in the tournament from outside viewers and media. College Football has never had this type of room for interesting matchups, and this new format has the potential to provide it this year. This year, there has not been a dominant program, which makes each conference championship race more important than ever considering the automatic byes. From established contenders (Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State) to historical powerhouses that have been quieter in recent years (Notre Dame, Miami and Tennessee), even complete surprises (Indiana, Boise State and Army) all find themselves in the playoff race this season.
While the financial impacts of this new system are something we’ll have to wait and see until the postseason begins, the 12-team College Football Playoff has the entire country at attention, eager to see who’s in.
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