College Football

The College Football Playoffs are expanding, but how will it impact the sport?

Published Jun. 11, 2021 8:07 p.m. ET

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The definition of evolution is the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.

And for the College Football Playoff, evolution is certainly on the horizon, with the playoff field on the verge of expanding from four teams to a whopping 12.

With the news of the expansion on the horizon, there have been plenty of comments and opinions voiced on what the matter means for the sport moving forward.

But one thing that appears to be certain is that the NCAA is likely to benefit greatly on a financial level from the change.

According to Steve Berkowitz of USA Today, the College Football Playoffs are already a nine-figure business operation for the NCAA, but earnings could cross into 10 figures under the future playoff model.

"The prospective expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams from its current four could increase the average annual value of the event from about $600 million to more than $2 billion, according to a projection provided to USA TODAY Sports by a firm specializing in college and professional sports rights valuations," Berkowitz wrote.

"The figures, from Chicago-based Navigate, are based on a set of assumptions that begin with recent increases in media rights deals negotiated by the NFL, NHL and the Southeastern Conference. Those increases, on a per-TV-viewer basis, have been running at a little more than 50%, said Matt Balvanz, Navigate’s senior vice president for analytics and innovation."

With the huge economic boom for the NCAA, there are some who believe that the players should be also be allowed to benefit financially.

One of those is Colin Cowherd, who explained why on "The Herd."

"This playoff is going to mean some teams will play 17 games, it's officially time to pay the players," he said. "The aesthetics are going to be so bad if you don't pay the players now. … You're going to have multiple networks now bidding on this. FOX is going to have some, ESPN is going to have some, CBS is going to have some. They're all going to be paying billions of dollars and it's going to look absolutely ridiculous not paying the players for 17 games."

Of course, it's not that simple, and the counter-point to arguments like Cowherd's usually tend to point to the fact there is value in the free education that comes with a football scholarship.

Also, as one anonymous college athletic director wrote in an Associated Press survey, the revenue generated by big-money sports like college football pays for sports that don't generate revenue.

"What little revenue 95% of institutions realize through revenue sports, goes toward supporting other sports," the AD wrote. "Paying those 5% of students will devastate the other teams that rely on that revenue to survive."

While the economic impact on the sport has been a topic for discussion, so has the conversation surrounding what the expanded CFP field might mean for parity.

Cowherd wants one thing to be clear: He doesn't think there will be any shift at all in who the dominant teams are with an expanded playoff field.

"This is not going to change the landscape. Alabama is still going to be good, the SEC is still going to dominate," Cowherd said. "You're going to have eight teams who have a chance at winning the national championship."

What happens as a result of the playoff field expanding remains to be seen, but there are plenty of opinions about it already.

That can only mean that everybody involved, from the players, coaches, and the NCAA, are in for a wild ride.

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Colin Cowherd

The Herd with Colin Cowherd