Nick Saban slams 24-team College Football Playoff, blames money for expansion

Nick Saban isn't the kind of guy to hide his opinion, and he's telling it like it is when it comes to his opinion on the expanded 24-team College Football Playoff next season. The former Alabama head coach is making it clear that he's not behind the idea to make the playoff bigger and expand it to 24 teams next year.

Saban, who's currently an ESPN analyst, was a guest on Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce's "New Heights" podcast out on Friday and talked about the expansion.

"Too many, there's not 24 teams in the country that can win the national championship," Saban said when Travis asked him for thoughts on the expansion. "So what is the reason to actually do it?"

Nick Saban talks college football with Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce

Jason said, "Money."

"You got it," Saban said, agreeing.

"But what you're giving up, which is what I hate to see is the SEC championship game, playing in the SEC championship was a big thing to our players, it was a big thing to our fans, it was a tradition, and it was a great venue," Saban added. "There's only two teams that can play in the national championship, but more teams can play in those kind of championship games, and there's a lot of pride in winning the conference championship."

Conference championship games could soon become a thing of the past as college football moves toward the 24-team playoff. The College Football Playoff announced Friday that an agreement with ESPN covering future media rights and possible expansion is in the "final stages" of review. Any way you slice it, Saban is not a fan.