Welcome to the expanded College Football Playoff era!

The CFP and ESPN announced that the 2027 edition of the FBS version of the playoffs will include a new 24-team bracket, up from the 12-team bracket that is in just its third season of use this year. 

The response from around the country has seemingly been negative, from journalists to coaches and fans all denouncing the increased field, but what truly is so bad about the increased spots? 

First off is the abandonment of bowl games almost entirely. You know, the ones that are the reason it’s called the Football Bowl Subdivision. 

The 24-team playoff includes just the New Year’s six that have either rotated or been a part of the Playoff since its inception in 2014. Bowl Season traditionally has 40 different matchups including those six, which means nearly 80 teams are eligible for the post season. 

Yes, there are still bowl games that move the needle with like the Pop-Tarts Bowl and the Citrus Bowl that feature top teams each season that missed the Playoff, but that level of game now drops as more teams are included with the Playoff. Do the bowls offer spots to first-round losers for a somewhat meaningless showdown afterwards, or do they try and live with 6-6 teams battling each other or even offer spots to Group of Six teams. 

Next, how does the quality in the Playoff look with increased numbers? 

In the 11 years prior, the discussion for who deserves a spot has always been in the forefront. In the four-team edition it was always about No. 5 and who missed -- maybe most notably Florida State, after a 13-0 season, being left out. Then last year the argument about Notre Dame and whether the Irish deserved a spot after missing out. 

Now the argument comes down to whether an 11-1 team out of the MAC deserves a spot over a 7-5 team out of the Big Ten or SEC. Let’s be honest, the MAC team isn’t even getting consideration unless they are the top Group of Six team in the rankings, which leads to another issue. Not all conferences get automatic bids. 

All NCAA playoffs for team sports include an automatic bid for conference champions; the issue is that the CFP is not run by the NCAA. With the CFP being a separate entity, the NCAA has no jurisdiction of making sure all conferences are represented equally. That means that the CFP is free to go with its five auto-bid system — four to the champions of the ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and SEC with one going to the highest ranked team from the group of six conferences (Mountain West, MAC, Pac-12, Sun Belt, Conference USA and AAC). 

Why is this important? 

Even outside the fact that these conferences are now misrepresented on the field, they are also held out from what is sure to be a major pay day. 

With the NCAA basketball tournament, teams that qualify are given a “unit” of money for each round that they play in. With all conferences represented they all receive a unit that is shared among all the schools, and with each win they earn another unit. This gives even more benefit from deep runs into the tournament. 

In the CFP, only one Group of Six conference will earn these units as a guarantee each season, meaning the power conferences will only grow richer as the rest fight for scraps. 

So, what happens from here? 

The Group of Six have to work out what is best for them moving forward while the Power Four continue their attempts to separate from the rest of the sport and keep more money to themselves. 

Do these smaller conferences decide to continue their fight towards the top level of college football and work for more of their teams to make the CFP, or do they face the writing on the wall and pivot towards a potential new division of football where they can play for a national championship? 

If they go for the second option, then what will happen with the FCS and beyond? Schools like Montana and Montana State may see more of a benefit to fight into this new tier of college football. 

Regardless of what happens, the FBS has abandoned what made it special all in favor of the mighty dollar. 

Reporter Jon Allen can be reached at 406-758-4426 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.