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

The College Football Playoff's proposed jump to 24 teams threatens the meaning of the regular season as 8-4 teams could soon plant the CFP first-round banner.

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INDIANAPOLIS - We're on the cusp of the College Football Playoff, which is once again seeing a drastic change in the teams allowed to enter the postseason, and there are plenty of fans across the sport who are asking why it's needed.

This question, along with many others, is the catalyst for the most impactful question we've seen in recent memory about the world of college football.

But, the answer to said argument is pretty simple when you examine the layers of points each conference committee will make over the next few weeks.

The College Football Playoff prepares to expand to 24 teams in 2027, with more games played on campuses across the country.

This entire ordeal can be traced back to the infamous BCS formula, which captivated audiences with computer rankings and left fans basically yelling at the computers at the end of the season.

INSIDE CFP EXPANSION BATTLE AS SEC, BIG TEN and TV networks battle for college football's next big move

Fast forward to 2026, and college football fans are pretty much united in their stance that the jump from 12 to 24 teams isn't necessary in this current era of the sport. Certainly, we're seeing schools across the country struggle to make decisions about the implications of increased spending on sports.

Since schools now spend so much money on building rosters, and college football is the main driving force in universities paying their athletic department bills, conference officials have decided to use the College Football Playoff as their line of credit to help pay the bills that pile up.

College athletics cost money and CFP is the ATM

If you haven't noticed over the past five years, we now live in a professional sports model that was once described as amateur sports. The amount of money needed to keep pace with rival schools has gone up significantly, with some programs spending more than $50 million this season to compete for a CFP title.

The thinking behind the closed doors of colleges revolves more around the idea that if they are going to spend that much money on a roster, they need more assurance that they will get a spot next season, or at least somehow justify that thinking.

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Now, when a team finishes the regular season with an 8-4 record, they can hang a banner inside the football hall that says "College Football Playoff 1st," which they know isn't what it's been the past two seasons.

Yes, remember that we have reached the expanded playoff system only two years after starting with four teams.

Now, those in favor of expanding the playoffs would have you think it's something other than a money grab or a justification, at a time when schools have to find different ways to raise funds.

On Thursday, after 34 days of negotiations, ESPN made a formal proposal to members of the CFP committee on how much it would be willing to pay for the additional games that would result from expanding the number of teams by 12.

Yes, the move would also be the end of conference title weekend across college football, though I could see the move actually opening up a way for the Big Six leagues to put on a show for the fans if they wanted to.

As LSU, Texas A&M and Oregon prove, college football's mega rosters don't have a return on investment.

No vote was taken Thursday, according to sources, members of the committee, made up of conference commissioners and Notre Dame. And, some questions were raised by the same committee members about whether they should take this to the open market, even though they basically know how much other networks are willing to offer.

"Constructive discussions with ESPN continued this week," CFP said in a statement. We have enjoyed a strong partnership with ESPN since our inception, and we appreciate the constructive dialogue we have had throughout the negotiation period, and has continued over the past few days.

We will provide further updates on future format and media rights issues as appropriate.

What's really in the pipeline for future development?

Three weeks ago, I watched Ohio State lose to Texas in a thrilling game in Austin as the Longhorns cushioned themselves if they were to drop two games the rest of the season.

Last weekend, even though people wanted to loudly proclaim that this game didn't really mean anything in terms of regular-season punishment, Alabama and Georgia battled to the final seconds of what turned out to be a heavyweight battle in Tuscaloosa.

Of course, Alabama can handle one more loss this season and still make the playoffs. But, two losses? No, the Crimson Tide will likely be on the outside looking in while someone else from the SEC takes their place in the postseason.

What if Texas loses to a Florida team coming to Austin on a losing streak on Saturday? Well, we're going to have a serious conversation about Steve Sarkisian's absence from the CFP with a roster that's costing over $40 million this season.

For the conferences and the CFP committee, the allure of a postseason bid is a carrot dangled in front of them to get fans to take a second look at the nonsense that would mean for football played in September or October.

Sure, the fans will continue to show up, but the sport will actually reduce the risk of the intense matchups we've seen on a weekly basis throughout the sport during a regular season.

The point is that in this new format, games that are held in September or even early October will be more meaningless than ever. Weekend matchups, like Missouri vs. Ole Miss or Notre Dame vs. BYU, are viewed differently by those at home or watching.

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Any team with a 9-3 record, or maybe even 8-4, that calls the SEC or Big Ten home will no longer feel the tension of sitting at home watching the CFP selection show hoping to pull off a miracle and get picked by the committee.

With every dollar this new contract costs every conference that makes up the sport, we've officially lost the map for what made college football so great.

If they really cared about what was best for college football, those responsible for helping the sport grow would read the room and keep this playoff at 12 teams, or at most 16 teams.

But, since everyone deserves a trophy to justify the amount of money they spend playing on a football team, now we're just waiting for CFP members to sign off on creating 12 more spots so everyone can feel like they accomplished something.

Hang up that banner, I hope the 5-8 season made you feel better and the check clears.

Terry Wallace Sr. is a college sports reporter for OutKick.

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