While the College Football Playoff will stay put at 12 teams for the 2026 season, an eventual expansion of the field still appears inevitable.
And while defending his stance that the CFP should add more teams, Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork put it bluntly, pointing to the economic opportunity such expansion would provide.
“I’m a believer in expansion. I think it’s good for the game of football,” Bjork told Eleven Warriors in a wide-ranging interview. “We just spent the first 15 minutes talking about governance and calendars and portals and NIL and things like that. You know, what’s really fascinating is the games have never been more popular. Look at TV viewership. Even college basketball viewership is up this year.
“So the fact that we have content that is valuable — live sporting content in today’s environment where everything’s sort of on demand has never been more valuable. And so producing more content produces more revenue, which we can give back to the players. I’m all for that side of the equation.”
As for the competitive part of the conversation, Bjork noted that it would actually behoove a perennial power like the Buckeyes to play in a smaller field. The Ohio State AD, however, believes that what’s best for the overall health of college football is to expand the playoff field, with the Big Ten reportedly advocating doubling it to 24 teams.
“For the greater whole of the enterprise of college sports and the commercial activity, the content, the TV negotiations, the access to — I think it keeps the regular season more alive,” he said. “If more teams are in the mix, these games are going to mean so much more than they already do, which again drives the value. So, look, I can live with 16 [teams]. I can live with 20, 24, whatever the number is. But I just think that it’s too valuable right now in the current climate to overlook not expanding. I think we need to expand sooner rather than later.”
How noble.
While this isn’t the first time Bjork has publicly supported playoff expansion, it isn’t often you hear top-level administrators speak in such terms. Sure, some of this is just the reality of the new normal in college football. But it’s still jarring to hear Ohio State’s AD repeatedly cite “value,” “content,” and “revenue,” while advocating for such a seismic change to college football’s on-field product.
Bjork also noted that while the playoff will remain at 12 teams for the upcoming season, the format could still change as early as 2027. And if/when it does, the reasons why will be obvious.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.