The College Football Playoff is expanding again, but the money isn't behind what some would call a "win."

The expansion of the College Football Playoff to 24 teams is moving closer as ESPN and the CFP informally agreed to a $345 million figure for additional games.

Terry Wallace x Dan Dakich | Don't @ Me w/ Dan Dakich

Is Michigan going completely off the rails?

Expanding the College Football Playoff just needs a few signatures of approval and a final vote before we can officially discuss how the sport is going now that the money figures are being finalized.

Over the past month, college football commissioners have been outlining what the financial situation will look like when ESPN makes its final bid for the next iteration of the postseason tournament to crown a national champion.

According to sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations, ESPN and the CFP have informally agreed to a deal that would see the network pay an additional $345 million annually for the rights to an additional 11 football games with a 24-team playoff.

College Football Playoff expansion is nothing more than a desperate bailout disguised as progress

ESPN was the first to report the financial details of its proposal to the CFP, which would eliminate conference championship games after this season.

Over the next five years, as the conference championship games are forfeited, the network will pay those leagues to exit marketing agreements, along with revenue from the same weekend's conference titles.

The College Football Playoff is sacrificing its soul to be an ATM for conferences by expanding to 24 teams.

A lot can change in just three years for college football

Just three years ago, CFP committee members agreed to increase the number of teams from four to twelve, which many around the sport thought would be a pretty decent deal if the postseason were to expand.

At the time, the idea of a 24-team playoff was laughed off and existed behind closed doors across campuses.

But, thanks to increased spending on varsity sports related to revenue sharing and NIL budgets, along with a slew of Power Four schools operating at a deficit, there's talk of that number rising again in the near future.

Look no further than the NCAA Tournament, which recently expanded from 68 to 76 teams, as an example of college athletics looking to add more schools to a crowded field.

Now, after more than a year of back-and-forth negotiations by the conferences over how many teams the CFP should have if it wants to expand, that number will increase by twelve. If you go back to last year's conversation, the thinking was that if college football were to add more teams, that number could go as high as sixteen, thanks to SEC pressure.

Greg Sankey clarifies that the SEC didn't start the 16-team CFP format debate, it did in the Big Ten

At the same time, it was the Big Ten Conference that believed having a 24-team field was the right move, giving more schools a chance to compete for championships.

More teams will make it better after the college football season, right?

In fact, a dozen other teams added a justification mechanism to the postseason, given the number of schools spending more than $30 million a year to consider a roster good enough to compete for a playoff spot.

So, pushed by Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettitte, other conferences, including the ACC and Big 12, embraced the idea that a 24-team postseason would give their teams more opportunities to play meaningful football in December while creating an easier path to the playoffs.

On Friday, that thought process took another big step, as those responsible for delivering a product on television just signed the official paperwork to once again expand the College Football Playoff.

Terry Wallace is the senior college sports reporter for OutKick.

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