Note to the CFP: Don’t get any ideas from the world cup on expansion
For a solid month and a half, all eyes of the sports world were focused on the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as teams made their way to North America for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This year was especially historic, with 48 teams competing for the World Cup trophy for the first time in the spectacle’s history. More teams meant more games, and more games meant more money overall. Soccer fans were treated to a pretty entertaining tournament, with a number of storylines sure to keep fans entertained and wanting more. We were inspired by the Democratic Republic of the Congo giving England a scare in the Round of 32, Erling Haaland and Norway making it all the way to the quarterfinals in their first World Cup since 1998, and a small island off the coast of West Africa, led by a 40-year-old goalkeeper bringing Lionel Messi and the defending champions to extra time in their first ever World Cup appearance.
As entertaining as the World Cup was this season, here were the rankings of the teams in the semifinals of the tournament (Spain, Argentina, France, England)
1-2-3-4
As great as the underdog story is, realistically in competitions like these, the cream always rises to the top.
And I think the College Football Committee should take notice.
In the first two years of the 12-team College Football Playoff, lower seeds are 2-6 overall in the first round, with the six losses coming by an average of 20.8 points. And yes, we did get the lovely underdog story of 10th seed Miami (sarcasm) making it all the way to the national championship, but other than that, the 9-12 seeds don’t historically do great in the College Football Playoff. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that we have only a small sample size of this expanded tournament, but the writing looks to be on the wall already. The concept of first round games being hosted on college campuses is fun, but in reality, the football just hasn’t been great. It’s usually a case of one team simply just being, well, better than the other. As much as I would’ve loved to see a James Madison upset over Oregon (sorry, Kylen), never did I feel like they had a chance at beating the Ducks.
Opening the door to an even more expansive College Football Playoff lessens the importance of the regular season, gives fans more mediocre football, and waters down the overall goal of the tournament itself: finding the best team in this beloved sport.
So as FIFA looks to expand the World Cup even further, and the College Football Playoff considers expanding once again to 16 or possibly even 24 teams to compete for a title, I just have a few words to the CFP Committee.
Stop. Please. Don’t do it.
