What a 12-Team Playoff Expansion Could Mean

June 18, 2021 by Staff

Over the years, college football has managed to firmly slot itself into a position to be one of the most popular sports within the US while also starting to develop an international audience too, it’s an extremely popular betting choice for fans and, with those states that have legalized sports betting such as gambling in Indiana, wagers can often beat out those of other sports too. With a proposal to go from four to twelve teams in the playoffs, however, this could not only make the above opportunities much more exciting but make it much easier for outsiders to get in – so what could this change mean for the teams involved?

A fair shot for the little guys – One of the big benefits that has been prompted with the expansion for the playoffs is that it provides a new opportunity for the teams that may not have otherwise had a chance – typically having the same teams reach the playoff stage because of the limited numbers, and whilst the smaller teams may not exactly be in the best position to take a win it does provide a fairer opportunity, or at least fairer that there had been before, and could lead to more exciting opportunities when the playoffs do come around.

An opportunity for the bigger teams, too – The other issue that comes from only having a four-team playoff too is that it boxes the bigger teams out as well as the smaller teams, in some parts of the country college ball had been shrinking for this very reason as only the select few get through to playoffs. With the expansion, it means that a larger number of bigger teams have the opportunity to make it through to the playoffs too and represent the different schools, in term hopefully providing the opportunity to increase viewership and welcome new fans to the sport too.

There are still many finer details that would need to be figured out, seeding would be an important one if the top four seeded teams would play against the bottom, or against the closest seeds, and this choice could have a bigger impact on the competition of a bigger playoff expansion too. It’s certainly going to be an interesting change and one that could greatly benefit college ball as a whole, increased viewership may even help other college ball tournaments with the likes of PAC-12 too which have had lower viewership than some would help, although if the same rings true with the same twelve teams making playoffs each year then it would close off avenues for some who would still be hoping their own team could make it into the new playoffs.