Talk about expanding the college football and basketball postseasons is all the rage this offseason. If you had to pick, would you rather see the College Football Playoff expanded to 16 teams, or the NCAA Tournament expanded to 76 teams?
The world of college athletics continues to change. This summer, the landmark House vs. NCAA settlement allowed universities to make direct payments to players. It’s not perfect, but there’s no denying it will change college athletics forever.
It’s not just changes to payments, it’s continuously talking about changes to the formatting for postseason play, specifically when it comes to the College Football Playoff. Still, men’s basketball and the NCAA won’t let the discussions end with football; there’s even talk of expanding March Madness to more than 70 teams in the coming years.
So would you rather expand the College Football Playoff to 16 teams or see 76 teams selected for March Madness?
Option #1: Expand the College Football Playoff to 16 Teams
The College Football Playoff Committee recently announced changes to seeding for the 12-team tournament ahead of the 2025 season. Those changes sparked discussion about further expansion from 12 to 16 teams.
There has always been talk of another round of playoff expansion even before the first 12-team playoff began. Now, people from the SEC are suggesting a model with five automatic bids and 11 at-large spots. Big Ten officials have floated the idea of a model where the SEC and Big Ten are guaranteed four spots apiece. While no definitive model has been selected as of now, it’s only a matter of time.
Option #2: Expand March Madness to 76 teams
Maybe NCAA President Charlie Baker is feeling even more obsolete than years past, given the state of college athletics, NIL and the attention the CFP is getting this summer, but he’s determined to stay top of mind. Shortly after news started circulating about different CFP expansion options, Baker floated the idea of expanding March Madness to 72 or even 76 teams from the current 68-team tournament.
Some coaches are supportive, especially as conferences like the SEC took up more than a dozen spots in last season’s tournament. It’d give a few more teams the opportunity to play their way into the Round of 64, but not many people are calling for the expansion.
There’s no need to expand either tournament, but expanding March Madness would upset me less
Honestly, the idea of expanding either postseason bothers me. If I had to pick, though, I’d let the NCAA expand March Madness over the CFP going to 16 teams.
It just doesn’t seem like adding a few more play-in games would change the nature of college basketball in the same way expanding the CFP could impact college football. March Madness is known for upsets, Cinderella stories and bracket busters. What harm will a few more teams actually do to the tournament? It wouldn’t make major changes to the end of the season, it wouldn’t lead to the elimination or dilution of conference tournaments and championships. You’re just letting a few more teams play an extra game or two.
It’s just not the same with college football. You can’t play that many games that close together, and the season is already stretching into late-January. While some argue the SEC got screwed in the first installment of the 12-team playoff, it’s hard for me to say Ole Miss , Alabama or South Carolina really deserved a spot in the CFP. We went from four teams to 12 teams — can we at least get some more data before we make too many changes and make the sport looks unrecognizable?
What about you? Would you rather expand the CFP or March Madness? Let us know your most passionate response in the comments below!