Floated 14-team College Football Playoff could have opposite effect than intended

College football used to have the perfect regular season. It's a shame that the College Football Playoff committee is hell-bent on ruining it.

Playoff expansion is likely coming in 2026 following a two-year run with a 12-team format. On Wednesday, ESPN's Pete Thamel and Heather Dinich reported CFP management floated the idea of a 14-team playoff starting with the 2026 season, which would coincide with the beginning of a six-year, $1.3 billion television rights extension with ESPN. 

One of the biggest advocates for adding two more spots to the playoff is Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti. Per Thamel and Dinich, Petitti "has made clear that he values the regular season and believes that increasing automatic qualifier spots could assure that late-season games have higher stakes."

The opposite is just as likely to be true. Take, for example, the past three Michigan-Ohio State meetings. All have had huge stakes because of the playoff format, but their annual meeting will be less significant in the 12-team playoff, let alone one that expands to 14 teams.

The real impetus for expansion is money, which is the same motivation for all of the changes to the sport.

According to Thamel and Dinich, Petitti said last week, "We want fans to think that you know a game in the second week of November, even if you've already lost two or three games, still has a lot of value." If a 14-team playoff means more fans tune into and attend a three-loss meeting between Penn State and USC, that will only make the conference more valuable when it's time to negotiate its next television rights deal.

The only justification for adding playoff spots is for mid-majors to have more seats at the table, but we'd be surprised if the Power Four conferences agree to expansion if it doesn't benefit them.

A 14-team field would make it more likely that the fourth-best teams in the SEC and Big Ten make the playoff, despite those teams having the entire regular season to prove themselves.

With those conferences adding members, their fourth-ranked teams won't necessarily be bad or undeserving of a playoff bid, but a big part of what made college football's regular season so thrilling was how much each game meant.

The more the CFP committee tinkers with its format, the more it's taking away from the excitement of every weekend being its own playoff.