Much will be made about how an expanded College Football Playoff field could lead to more access and parity for schools, but a new figure shows the real motivation behind the move.
According to Steve Berkowitz of USA Today, a private projection from a specialized firm indicates that the expanded playoff could increase revenue from $600 million to more than $2 billion for the NCAA. The figures are based in part on the recent rights increases in media rights deals negotiated by the NBA, NHL and SEC.
It’s not completely clear how much of that will funnel down to schools, and what share conferences would get. Still, it’s obvious there would be a major windfall for a number of conferences in an expanded format.
A special committee has already laid out what an expanded playoff might look like, which you can read about here. Whatever the case, expansion seems to be inevitable at this stage.
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