For the most part, the College Football Playoff has been a success — especially when you consider the predecessor, which was a broken BCS system. However, fans are now clamoring to expand the College Football Playoff as four teams just isn’t enough. As a result, BetDSI Sportsbook has posted a betting line related to whether the CFP will expand to eight teams in the 2020 season:
Will the College Football Playoff expand to eight teams for 2020 regular season?
Yes +150
No -200
As of now, ‘No’ is the overwhelming favorite. The general assumption is that the playoff will eventually expand but for now, there is not enough pressure to do so.
Related: College Football Betting Guide
The conversation has now come up in back-to-back seasons as there always seems to be one or two qualified teams that gets left out of the mix. Last year, a two-loss Ohio State team that won the Big Ten was left out of the mix in favor of a one-loss Alabama team that didn’t even make it to the SEC Championship Game. We also ended up with a situation where an undefeated UCF team was left out. This year, Ohio State was one of the teams that didn’t get an invite ans there was rampant debate as to whether they should make it, whether Georgia should make it, or whether Oklahoma should make it. In the end, it was the Sooners that earned the final spot.
Expanding the playoff makes sense logically because all other major sports have leagues with fewer teams already have playoffs with more teams. The NBA and NHL welcome 16 teams to their postseason, and the NFL includes eight. Even college basketball has a 68-team tournament. The challenge with college football is that every time the playoff expands, it takes away from different bowl game, which the NCAA can individually highlight and get sponsors for.
There is also concern that if the playoff format would change, it would have a ripple effect deep into the regular season. As of now, teams know they still have to be perfect — for the most part — or have no more than one loss. If the playoff expanded to eight teams, the playoff might be a little more forgiving. There’s a belief that the system — as it is now — provides a lot of must-see-TV games in the regular season while avoiding any disruption to the regular bowl games. Adding more playoff teams could throw off the balance.
And in general, it doesn’t seem like too many teams are getting snubbed. With the BCS format, it felt unfair. This system — for the most part — is fairly accurate. At most, we’ve seen one or two teams from power conferences snubbed and the NCAA tends to like that type of thing. That’s because it spurs furious debate on talk shows, sports radio and on the internet as to who should qualify and who should miss the cut.
That being the case, don’t bet on this system changing anytime soon, which the oddsmakers at BetDSI Sportsbook seem to agree with.
