(04-26-2021 09:07 AM)ken d Wrote:  A 16 team CFP is out of the question for any number of reasons. One obvious one is the length of the season, which would require either that you play through exams as if they didn't count, and/or you compete more directly with the NFL playoffs.

Neither ESPN nor any other network will pay big money for college playoff games that are played at the same time as NFL playoff games. No chance. The NFL's new schedule format occupies all of the Saturdays and Sundays in January, so those weekends are unavailable to the CFP.

And, you're right to assume that even the presidents of "football schools" will insist on continuing to pretend that final exams are more important to them than football money, so starting a playoff on the weekend after conference title games is out.

So, if the gatekeepers agree on an expanded CFP, it's going to be 8 teams, first round on the Saturday that is 7-13 days before January 1, semifinals on January 1, final on the Monday that is 7-13 days after January 1. That's the only schedule with a chance of significantly increasing TV revenue over the current CFP.