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Bowl executives reportedly not fans of one idea for potential CFP expansion
By Jake Rill
Published:
College Football Playoff expansion remains a hot topic. At some point, it seems likely that the field will increase from the 4 teams it has featured since the system was implemented in 2014.
It isn’t clear when that may happen, or how many teams will be included if/when it does. But the speculation has continued as ideas have been tossed around.
One thing that will be up for debate? Whether or not first-round games of an expanded Playoff should be played at neutral sites or on campuses. It has made sense for every team to travel when the CFP has featured only 3 games, but would that still be the case if the number of matchups increases?
According to ESPN’s Heather Dinich, Bowl Season executives, who run 43 bowl games, sent a letter this week to “hundreds of leaders in college football” hoping to ensure that Playoff games will continue to be played at neutral bowl sites if the field expands in the future.
“We believe any plan for an expanded playoff should include all playoff games being played within the traditional Bowl structure, not the home site of one of the participating teams,” the letter stated, per Dinich. “The Bowls would provide a neutral, competitively fair setting for these games as they have throughout their history. To exclude Bowl games from any round of an expanded playoff would be harmful to Bowl Season, individual Bowls and their host communities, and post-season college football in general.”
Should this be the case, or should the top seeds be rewarded for finishing higher in the CFP rankings? At what point in the Playoff should games become neutral sites? These are all things that will need to be discussed when/if expansion happens.
But for now, everything remains uncertain, including this potential idea.
Jake Rill contributes to news coverage for Saturday Down South. He has covered the SEC since 2016.
