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CFP expands to 24 teams

Sports · Heat 1.9 / 10 · 10 shows · 3h 2m airtime

The College Football Playoff is reported to be expanding its field to 24 teams beginning in 2027, with 19 at-large bids and five power-conference automatic bids and no conference championship games. The Big Ten first floated a 24- or 28-team field in August 2025, and Greg Sankey said the SEC is open to it if national scheduling expectations are met. The long-term formula is expected to be 10 FBS opponents, one FCS and one Group of Six team. ESPN is paying $300 million for a format it did not want, while the Big Ten and SEC guaranteed five bids each, about ten of the 24 spots. Nick Saban has argued for a 16-team field with conference title games as play-ins.

How 10 podcasts covered it

  1. The Pat McAfee Show, 2026-10-14 (0:00 to 7:00)
    Reports Sankey opening the door to 24
    Opens the show on SEC basketball media days, where Greg Sankey signaled the SEC is open to a 24-team playoff if national scheduling expectations are met. Frames it as the last holdout moving, with Petitti and the Big Ten already on board.
    New angle: Greg Sankey signaled at SEC basketball media days that the SEC is open to a 24-team playoff if scheduling expectations are met nationally.
  2. The Pat McAfee Show, 2026-10-14 (1:19:06 to 1:34:06)
    Dates the Big Ten's push to August 2025
    Pete Thamel explains Sankey's SEC media days comments as a signal flare for a 24-team field and adds the negotiation timeline: ESPN and the CFP have been talking for about 34 days, with clarity expected this week. He dates the Big Ten's push to August 2025 and says the Big Ten would commit to nine conference games plus a power-conference…
    New angle: The Big Ten first floated a 24- or 28-team playoff in August 2025, and would commit to nine conference games plus a power game.
  3. The Herd with Colin Cowherd, 2026-10-15 (21:43 to 28:27)
    Reports a 2027 start for a 24-team field
    Pete Thamel's reporting puts a start date on the expansion: a deal nearing completion for a 24-team field beginning in 2027. Cowherd argues the change will produce more quality matchups and a mini March Madness, and that NIL and the transfer portal did not ruin the sport.
    New angle: The 24-team College Football Playoff would begin in 2027.
  4. PTI, 2026-10-15 (7:36 to 10:42)
    Debates the 24-team playoff expansion
    Recaps the ESPN report that the 12-team playoff is about to double to 24, with the season starting a week earlier and the Power Four title games cut. Debates whether a bigger field improves the sport and lands on more watched, worse product.
  5. Pardon My Take, 2026-10-16 (27:25 to 32:07)
    Argues expansion further devalues the regular season
    Reacts to the 24-team playoff expansion, arguing it further devalues the regular season and that conference championship games may cease to exist. Proposes a Big Ten-SEC challenge as the only silver lining, and ties it to the 76-team NCAA basketball tournament. Stays inside the expansion debate already on the record.
  6. The Dan Le Batard Show, 2026-10-16 (16:52 to 30:07)
    Argues nobody asked for 24 teams
    Takes the reported 24-team expansion and argues nobody asked for it, a cash grab by administrators. Adds the reported format details: 19 at-large bids, five power-conference automatic bids, a Group of Six champion, and no conference championship games.
    New angle: The reported 24-team field would carry 19 at-large bids and five power-conference automatic bids, with no conference championship games.
  7. First Take, 2026-10-16 (43:30 to 48:05)
    Recaps the 24-team field and debates its size
    Recaps Pete Thamel's report of a 24-team field with 19 at-large bids and the power-four champs, then argues the size: Stephen A. Smith wants 16, Orlovsky and Swagu warm to it only if scheduling improves and conference title games go. Reaction, not new ground.
  8. First Take, 2026-10-16 (20:56 to 26:43)
    Debates the 24-team field and the money grab
    Finebaum and Stephen A. Smith debate the reported 24-team field, with Finebaum arguing it opens the door to more schools and kills the meaning of conference title games and Smith calling it a money grab that should have stopped at 16. Reaction and opinion, no new development.
  9. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-16 (17:01 to 25:22)
    Breaks down the 24-team field mechanics
    Heather Dinich walks through the mechanics of the 24-team field: Petitti as the driver, the SEC as the last holdout, the ESPN credit tied to conference title games, and the 17-game cap. Adds the scheduling formula and the loss of Notre Dame's guaranteed berth.
    New angle: The long-term scheduling formula is expected to be 10 FBS opponents, one FCS and one Group of Six team.
  10. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-16 (16:44 to 20:33)
    Recaps the expansion origin and SEC holdout
    Heather Dinich retells the expansion's origin story - Petitti's February proposal, the scoffing, the SEC as the last holdout - and walks through the unresolved money and scheduling details. Mostly a recap of ground the show has already covered.
  11. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-16 (20:35 to 25:00)
    Explains the proposed 24-team calendar
    Heather Dinich walks through the proposed 24-team calendar: week zero start, Thanksgiving weekend finish, a December bye week, two on-campus rounds and a 17-game cap. It is a format explainer that stays inside the expansion already on the record.
  12. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-16 (25:00 to 31:44)
    Debates whether 24 teams ruin the regular season
    Debates the 24-team field after Dinich's interview, arguing over whether it ruins the regular season, comparing it to March Madness going from 32 to 64, and floating NIL playoff incentives. Reaction and opinion, with no new development.
  13. The Pat McAfee Show, 2026-10-16 (36:48 to 42:10)
    Argues for a 16-team playoff
    Puts Saban on the record against the 24-team field: he says he would back a 16-team playoff with conference championship games as play-ins, and that the bottom line for expansion is money.
    New angle: Saban would back a 16-team playoff with conference championship games as play-ins.
  14. The Herd with Colin Cowherd, 2026-10-16 (27:48 to 32:23)
    Recaps the 24-team case with inclusion rates
    Colin Cowherd's case for the 24-team field, built on inclusion rates: 17% of college football against 44% in the NFL, 50% in hockey and 67% in the NBA. The bowl opt-out numbers and the NIL little-guy argument are retreads of points already on the record.
  15. The Herd with Colin Cowherd, 2026-10-16 (20:29 to 22:39)
    Argues the 24-team playoff helps the sport
    Argues the 24-team playoff is good for the sport: more big games late in the season, bowl games are cooked, and NIL has made players older and better. Stays inside the expansion debate already on the record.
  16. The Rich Eisen Show, 2026-10-16 (2:28 to 25:59)
    Walks the CFP timeline and names the MOU drivers
    Thamel walks the timeline from the Big Ten's August 2025 trial balloon to the CFP's stakeholder meeting the day before, and puts on the record that the CFP's own MOU names Petitti and Sankey as the decision drivers.
    New angle: The CFP's MOU states that Tony Petitti and Greg Sankey will drive decision-making.
  17. The Dan Le Batard Show, 2026-10-19 (20:27 to 30:59)
    Puts a $300 million price on the expansion
    Reacts to the reported 24-team expansion by putting a price on it: ESPN is writing a $300 million check for a format it did not want, pushed by the mega-conferences. Argues the dilution kills the regular-season stakes the 12-team field just restored.
    New angle: ESPN is paying $300 million to expand the playoff to 24 teams, a format it did not want.
  18. The Dan Le Batard Show, 2026-10-19 (35:08 to 40:39)
    Questions whether football can keep adding inventory
    Uses the 24-team expansion as the hook for a scarcity-and-overexposure argument, asking whether football can keep adding inventory when the NBA, MLB and UFC lost momentum. Stays inside the expansion debate already on the record, adding only the hosts' own ratings worry.
  19. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-19 (4:50 to 11:54)
    Defends the 24-team field as good for the sport
    Dan defends the 24-team field as good for the sport, arguing more games matter and more fan bases are involved, and pushes back on the idea that Ohio State-Indiana or BYU-Notre Dame are diminished. The substance stays inside the expansion case already on the record.
  20. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-19 (5:24 to 12:33)
    Argues the Big Ten and SEC locked five bids
    Dan argues the 24-team field won't dilute the regular season and adds a specific detail about the deal: the Big Ten and SEC agreed to it to lock in five bids each, so ten of the 24 spots are effectively reserved for those two leagues.
    New angle: The Big Ten and SEC agreed to the 24-team field to guarantee five bids each, about ten of the 24 spots.
  21. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-19 (15:53 to 19:53)
    Recalls the split-poll era to defend 24 teams
    Recalls the split-poll era - BYU's 1984 title, Nixon calling Texas-Arkansas the national championship - to argue the old system was less scientific than 24 teams. The NIL parity argument is a retelling of what the expansion discussion already holds.
  22. The Dan Patrick Show, 2026-10-19 (28:10 to 30:10)
    Restates the Big Ten's role in the 24-team field
    A caller argues a 24-team field will cost meaningful September games; Dan answers that he cares about November and December and repeats that the Big Ten drove the change and that the Big Ten and SEC will get five bids each. Reaction and restatement, no new development.
  23. The Right Time with Bomani Jones, 2026-10-19 (36:12 to 42:37)
    Argues the 24-team expansion helps no one
    Reacts to the 24-team expansion and argues it helps no one: first-round games will be blowouts, the SEC gains little over its championship game, and nobody asked for it. Stays inside the format details already on the record.
  24. The Ryen Russillo Show, 2026-10-21 (2:52 to 12:24)
    Argues expansion feeds a loyal customer base
    Uses the reported 24-team College Football Playoff expansion to argue leagues keep adding inventory because the loyal customer base never leaves, citing the NFL's extra games, the NBA's streaming launch and the 2017 college basketball scandal as proof fans absorb anything.
    New angle: The College Football Playoff is expanding to 24 teams.
  25. The Ryen Russillo Show, 2026-10-22 (34:35 to 37:06)
    Frames the Big Ten as winning a game of chicken
    Kanell and Russillo debate the 24-team field, with Kanell saying he would have preferred 16 first and framing the Big Ten as having won a game of chicken with Greg Sankey. Argument and framing, staying inside the expansion already on the record.
  26. The Ryen Russillo Show, 2026-10-22 (39:38 to 41:15)
    Makes the parity case for a bigger playoff
    Kanell makes the case for a bigger field from parity: the portal has leveled the sport, more chaotic weekends are coming, and picking the best 12 is harder than ever. Argument and prediction, staying inside the expansion debate already on the record.
  27. The Ryen Russillo Show, 2026-10-22 (41:15 to 44:40)
    Argues the 24-team field fills with 8-4 teams
    Russillo's argument against the 24-team field: it will be littered with 8-4 teams that haven't beaten anyone, and the two real motives are late-season TV ratings for the NBC Big Ten package and NIL donors wanting a return on their money. Opinion and framing, not a new development.
  28. The Ryen Russillo Show, 2026-10-22 (44:40 to 47:51)
    Predicts a 9-3 team makes the 24-team field
    Kanell and Russillo argue over what a 9-3 record should mean once the field is 24 teams, with Kanell predicting a 9-3 team gets in this year and undefeated seasons become as rare as the 1972 Dolphins. Opinion and prediction inside the expansion debate, no new development.
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