9. Playoff expansion to 16, 24 or more teams
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Insiders (sourced entries)
Earlier expansion supporters
Michael Adams (2008, NCAA-run playoff); John Swofford (2011, recalling the 2008 plus-one he co-proposed with Mike Slive) and Mike Slive (2008, plus-one); Bob Stoops (2012, 4-team).
“I believe the time has come for the NCAA to take control of the college football postseason.”
Reversing 20 years of opposition, Adams urged the NCAA to take control of the postseason with a four-team playoff after the major bowls, and to cut the regular season back to 11 games. He said the BCS had lost public confidence and TV networks had become too powerful.
“There's no such thing as standing pat.”
Slive formally proposed a seeded plus-one (1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 in BCS bowls, with a title game a week later, plus an extra BCS bowl). Only the SEC and ACC wanted to keep discussing it, and Slive said there's no such thing as standing pat.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
Swofford, who co-proposed the plus-one with Mike Slive in 2008, said he still supported it because it would give two more teams a shot at the title. He acknowledged worries that playoffs tend to grow.
“We are allowing the best teams in the country to determine a national champion on the football field, and as a coach, that's what you want.”
Stoops welcomed the newly approved four-team playoff because it lets the best teams decide the title on the field, and praised it for keeping the bowl experience and making regular-season games more important.
For bigger fields
Mike Leach (2021, 64 teams); Brian Kelly (2022, "more access"); Tony Petitti and the Big Ten (2025–26); Lincoln Riley (2026); Robert Griffin III (2026, 24 teams); Brett Yormark (2026, 24 teams).
“I think 12 teams is a huge step in the right direction. I personally would like to see 64, and you could map it out pretty easily.”
At SEC Media Days, Leach called the proposed 12-team CFP a huge step in the right direction but said he would personally like a 64-team bracket.
“I just like more access.”
Days before the CFP approved 12 teams, Kelly, a former Division II coach, backed expansion because it gives more teams access and keeps more teams in the hunt later in the season.
“We want to better connect the regular season & postseason. We want more conference games to matter in November.”
At Big Ten media days, Petitti pitched a playoff format with more automatic bids for the Big Ten and SEC so more conference games matter in November, and said models that lean more on committee picks would struggle to win Big Ten support. The Big Ten was also the lone FBS league backing a spring portal window over January.
“Also, the playoff format should not function as a disincentive to schedule tough, nonconference games.”
Petitti said any postseason format should keep as many teams alive as long as possible and shouldn't discourage teams from scheduling tough nonconference games.
“The College Football Playoff expanding to 24 teams IS THE RIGHT MOVE for College Football to survive in the current landscape.”
Griffin argued on X that a 24-team CFP is necessary for the sport to survive. He said it would bring in revenue to cover rising player pay and let more networks carry playoff games, with losing conference title games as the price.
“I liked 16 initially. As I learned more about it, obviously, without the additional AQs, when 24 became part of the conversation, we've done our own conference due diligence around it, and we think it might be a great fit for us.”
At Big 12 Media Days, moved from backing 16 teams to saying a 24-team CFP without extra automatic qualifiers 'might be a great fit' for the Big 12, while protecting its title game.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
At Big Ten media days, Petitti said an expanded playoff would make the regular season better by keeping more teams in the CFP race into November and December, while acknowledging it could eliminate conference title games.
“Having more teams in a tournament to determine a champion is not going to make it worse.”
At Big Ten media days, Riley said Big Ten coaches were unanimous in favor of a 24-team CFP. He argued expansion would bring back better nonconference games and preserve intersectional rivalries like USC-Notre Dame.
Opponents or cautious
Mike Tranghese and John White (2008); Gordon Gee (2008, "cold, dead hands"); Jim Delany (2008–12, "slippery slope"); Kevin Warren (2021; later supportive in 2022); Dabo Swinney (2021, expansion makes the season less important and hurts players); Chris Klieman (2021, health); Jim Phillips (2022, "not the right time"); Greg Sankey (2025–26).
“To a person, we expressed our support for the current BCS system.”
White criticized Georgia president Michael Adams's playoff push and said SEC presidents had unanimously rejected the idea in 2007 and supported the BCS.
“They will wrench a playoff system out of my cold, dead hands. It's too much like moving toward having universities being farm clubs for the pros.”
Gee flatly rejected a playoff, arguing it would push universities toward being farm clubs for the pros.
“The seeded model looked like a playoff, and we don't think a playoff is in the best interest of college football.”
Tranghese said he preferred an unseeded plus-one, where the title matchup is set after the bowls, over a seeded model that looked like a playoff.
“There's a strong sense in that room of the slippery-slope view that there's never been a collegiate or professional playoff that's stopped at four teams.”
Explaining why commissioners rejected the 2008 plus-one, Delany cited the view that no playoff has ever stopped at four teams.
“The collective presidents of America's major universities believe that the playoff system is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics or our universities.”
After President-elect Obama called for an eight-team playoff, Gee held firm, saying presidents of major universities believe a playoff isn't in the best interest of college athletics.
“I don't necessarily think the slippery slope is theoretical. I think the slippery slope is practical.”
Delany argued that playoff expansion is a practical certainty rather than a theoretical risk, pointing to how the I-AA and basketball brackets grew.
“As long as I can go to the Rose Bowl, I don't really care.”
Delany opposed a four-team 'plus-one' playoff, calling it a slippery slope toward 8 or 16 teams and saying the only strong argument for it is financial. He said he was fine with dropping automatic BCS bids as long as the Big Ten kept the Rose Bowl.
“It's a big part of the Big Ten culture and the Big Ten brand.”
During the 2012 playoff talks, Delany first lobbied to host semifinals on the higher seed's campus to protect the Rose Bowl. He later said that if a playoff was inevitable, the 'best four teams' should be picked by a committee.
“I'm a believer that more is not always better and increasing is not always better.”
Asked about expanding the four-team CFP, Warren said the sport should first study the effects on player health, academics and injuries. He said he wasn't yet ready for eight teams and would vote no at that point.
“I think the more you expand it, the less important the season becomes and the more you become the NFL.”
Swinney said he and his players opposed expanding the CFP to 12 teams, though he called it inevitable. He argued more expansion makes the regular season less important and turns the sport into the NFL, where teams rest starters once they're in.
“People say, It's just one more game. To me, that is a total lack of appreciation for what it takes to win a game”
Said 12-team expansion may be good financially and for fans 'but I don't think that's what is best for the player'; called 'it's just one more game' a lack of appreciation for what those games take.
“Science will tell you you can't keep hitting these guys and expect them to be fresh and ready to go”
Drawing on FCS experience, said 15-16 game seasons are a grind that requires less hitting in practice.
“We are 100 percent supportive of expansion. We think it's the right thing to do. But it has to be at the right time, in the right format, for the right reasons.”
After the 12-team proposal failed, Warren said the Big Ten fully supported expansion but only with the right format and timing, with revenue sharing, the academic calendar and mental health settled first. The Big Ten also favored automatic bids for Power 5 champions.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
Phillips said it was not the right time for CFP expansion, pointing to unanswered athlete health questions, wider disruption from NIL and the new NCAA constitution, and the need for a holistic review of the sport.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
At 2025 SEC Media Days, Sankey defended the CFP memorandum of understanding that gives the SEC and Big Ten decision-making authority on the format. He said that without an agreement the 5+7 12-team model could simply stay.
“We're not interested in finding the easiest path, we are focused on finding the right path.”
Opening SEC Media Days, Sankey pushed back on a 24-team CFP. He said there is no clear evidence of media interest, the calendar is already strained, and the sport needs to find the right path rather than the easiest one.
From outside the sport
Outside proposals
Full reform plans from fans, writers and advocacy sites, not insiders. Kept separate from the sourced insider entries above.
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