College Football's 24-Team Playoff Raises the Stakes

Big news in college sports is our first story. The college football playoffs, which this year and the past few years has been 12 teams, that's not enough. Next year it expands to 24 teams. So here's what I got. That's what I feel. 12 games. It's, it's, it's... So do we like it? I mean, look, the playoffs are fun. But knockout rounds in any sport is fun. Is this like an influence of the World Cup? Like, after the World Cup, they showed this amount of games that can happen, 64 game, you know, combinations of games possible. It's like, dude, we can do 12 games. Yeah, I actually think that's what, you know, I think they saw the World Cup expanding, and they're like, let's keep on expanding because, look, it's more money. But here's my issue. It makes the regular season less special. The thing about college football is that, like, you lose one game, you're possibly out, and you lose two, for sure you're out. Now, we're going to see teams with three losses making the playoffs. I don't know. I also think as a college student, you know, the pressure is what drives you to go to the games, right? People are actually, you know, now, unfortunately, UCSB does not have a college football team, so I wouldn't really know about that. But from the college football games that I have been to, you know, people are really into it, right? And I think that if you take that pressure and the stakes off, I don't know if the numbers are going to be that high in the regular season. Yeah, exactly. So the playoffs, they'll get the numbers they want. Another regular season, you're probably going to see less of a crowd. And also... Football. I played high school football. It's very taxing. So for the college athletes to now be playing the same amount of games, if you're on a high-profile team, you're playing the same amount of games as an NFL team. God, I don't know what that is. And we're seeing more injuries. We're going to talk more about it because it's a reality that we are pushing players of all ages to an increased number of matches in every sport at every level from youth sports. Before, kids would play 20 matches a year. Now we're seeing the ECNL, the NPL, the higher leagues, the MLS. Bro, there are 40 games a year. And then what you see, increased injuries in the knees, joints, people leaving the sport way too soon into their life. But look at this headline. Look at this headline that is super telling, my friends. College football, 1.7 billion revolution will eliminate a tradition fans have known for decades. Just like you were talking about, 24 teams, Humberto. It's the money, man. Five-year ride expansion value at nearly $1.7 billion, starting in the 2027 season. The landscape will completely change, my friend. These are much more stories. Conor, those ballgames, you're going to try to incorporate the traditional ballgames into the playoff system, but it's not the same, you know? So, look, things change, things evolve, and money is now completely obvious in college sports, whereas before it was an amateur sport, but they made money, obviously, with TV rights. Now, with the NIL, also... NIL. I think NIL has been... A game changer. It has. And there's a lot of money. And here's the thing also, the changing landscape of entertainment in general, because you have digital on demand, live sports are the last vestige to keep the broadcast. Like we like to say in the industry, the very last survival of appointment watching. Exactly. People used to go and watch TV a certain time, a certain day for a specific show, weekly releases. And now everything is just dumped on you for binge watching. But sports is the only one that still brings that people together around the TV, like very much the tradition that sports continue to build. But the money talks, my friend.