By Kiptyn Berry
The College Football Playoff has become one of the most anticipated events in college sports, yet it has faced criticism from coaches, players, and fans alike.
While the playoff has evolved over the years, the time has come for more expansion from the current 12-team format to 16 teams.
A 16-team playoff would provide more team opportunities, increase viewership, and offer a more inclusive postseason experience for college football. Expanding the playoffs would increase the number of exciting matchups, which would lead to a rise in viewership.
What does increased viewership mean?
The answer is quite simple. Increased viewership shows that more people are watching these games than ever before, which means they must be interesting.
For example, according to ESPN in the 2025 CFP, the four first-round games averaged 10.6 million viewers, the quarterfinals averaged 16.9 million, and the semifinals averaged 19.2 million viewers. The National Championship game alone attracted 22.1 million viewers. This adds up to nearly 170 million, 100 thousand viewers.
In comparison, the entire 2021 CFP season had a total of 50.7 million viewers.
Just think how much viewership could increase if there were four additional games, each featuring new teams.
A 16-team format would offer more opportunities for teams from across the nation to compete for a national title, generating even more excitement. Expanding to 16 teams would also increase the number of matchups, making the postseason more exciting.
In a 12-team playoff, there would be 11 matchups, but with a 16-team format, there would be 15 matchups throughout the playoffs.
This is an example of what a 16 team playoff format would look like.
Also having more matchups can make it fairer for smaller colleges to compete because they usually get knocked out by larger colleges in larger conferences like the Big 10 and SEC.
While the length of the playoff would likely stay the same for a 16-team format, there would be more games to enjoy, which would keep fans watching throughout the month.
More games also means more chances for surprises and upsets, making the playoff even more unpredictable and exciting.
There are already discussions about expanding the CFP to 14 teams. In a recent meeting on Feb. 25, conferences such as the SEC and Big Ten advocated for a 14-team playoff model. This proposal includes a “straight seeding” model, which would eliminate the first-round byes previously given to the four highest-ranked conference champions.
Under this 14-team format, the SEC and Big Ten would each secure four spots, while the ACC and Big 12 would receive two automatic spots each. Only two spots would remain for at-large teams, creating a narrow window for teams outside of the major conferences to make the playoffs.
While a 14-team expansion is a step in the right direction, it still falls short. The current proposal heavily favors the power conferences, leaving little room for teams from smaller conferences to compete.
This is where a 16-team playoff would be beneficial, as it would allow for a more fair environment. No conference should be guaranteed an automatic spot in the College Football Playoff.
Every spot should be earned based on performance throughout the season, and the playoff spots should be awarded to the 16 highest-ranked teams.
Another issue that arose during last year’s playoff was where the games were being played.
Although, any games after the first round should be played at a neutral site (a site where neither team’s campus is in that state). An example of this being a problem was when Texas played Ohio State in the semifinal round of the CFP was played in Arlington Texas.
That is around three hours away from Austin, Texas, where the Longhorns are based. That is much closer than the distance between Columbus Ohio and Arlington Texas. It would likely take 20 hours to get to Arlington Texas from Columbus.
There is also a fan base for the Longhorns that could be spread all over Texas. Having games so close to a team’s home campus for a playoff game is not fair.
In this proposed 16-team playoff, teams should be seeded based on their final rankings. The top-ranked team would receive the first seed, the second-ranked team would receive the second seed, and so on.
This system helps ensure that the best teams, regardless of conference, are given a chance to compete. It also guarantees that all teams are treated fairly, without the potential for bias toward specific conferences.
A potential problem with this is that there is a 12-year contract that was started in 2014 which expires at the end of the 2025 season. With this, conferences no longer need unanimous votes in order to make changes to the playoffs.
This would cause the Big 10 and SEC conferences to have almost unlimited power in changes made to college football playoffs or regular season game format.
Some people might say that the playoffs have not been expanded in over a decade. Why should they be changed now? ‘
The CFP should be expanded because if there are already discussions about them being expanded to 14 teams I think that with all the benefits that come from expanding it outweighs the fact that they have not been expanded in over a decade.
Or why shouldn’t it just expand to 20 or 30 teams? Well, the answer is actually quite simple.
Having 20 or 30 teams would heavily increase the amount of games that would need to be played. College football is not like NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) basketball where you can play every two days.
The earliest that college football games can occur is about once a week because of the physical impact college football can have on a player’s body.
The playoffs would end up lasting longer because of this and I believe that this could be a risk to the players and coaching staff alike.
Football teams need the ability to prepare for the team that they play next whether that be watching film or practicing. While discussions are already underway to expand the CFP to 14 teams, a 16-team playoff would be a better solution.
Not only would it increase the number of exciting matchups and viewership, but it would also create a more inclusive and competitive postseason that gives every team a fair chance to compete for the national championship. It’s time to take the next step in evolving college football and expand the playoff to 16 teams.
NOTE: This column represents the personal opinion of freshman Kiptyn Berry. It does not necessarily represent the opinion of the Eagle’s Eye newspaper or Delta High School.
