Nick Saban makes feelings clear on College Football Playoff expanding to 24 teams

The College Football Playoff is set to expand to 24 teams in 2027.

College football had something good going with 12 teams, and many felt like 12 was around the right number. I thought eight was the perfect number; to me, there are only around 6-8 teams every year that can win it all.

However, I understood 12 teams and could even get to 16 at most. Yet, college football decided to expand to 24 teams, which is simply all about money, according to legendary Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.

“The bottom line is money. That’s the bottom line,” Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show. “You explained it. Universities need it because of the way we’re spending more now for players. There’s still a cost to having Olympic sports, which are important, I think to be able to keep and give people opportunities to compete. And how do we do that?”

Money is the big reason for the expansion, not to make the sport better. It brings in more revenue for the sport and all the schools.

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However, Saban does think 16 teams is likely the most he would’ve gone and feels like that is a good compromise to making the regular season matter and earning more money for all the schools.

“I would be for 16 (teams), I think that would be a good compromise,” Saban added. “I would be for keeping conference championship games as maybe a play-in for the 16? Which, now, you have 20 teams that have hope. But I don’t think there’s much support for that. I don’t think anybody really likes that.”

However, the CFP ultimately decided to expand to 24 teams just three years into the 12-team playoff expansion.

Nick Saban doesn’t think 24 teams deserve a playoff spot

Along with Saban thinking it’s all for money, while appearing on College GameDay this weekend, he believes there aren’t enough elite teams to expand.

Already at 12 teams, you are getting 2-loss and potential 3-loss teams into the playoffs. At 24 teams, you could very well see a 7-5 and plenty of 8-4 teams reach the postseason. Having four losses and making the playoffs isn’t good for the regular season, as losses seemingly don’t matter anymore.

“There’s not 24 teams in the country that deserve to be in the playoffs,” Saban said on College GameDay. “There were 12 teams last year. There were a couple of teams that got in that probably shouldn’t have. I don’t think there’s 24 teams in the country that can win the championship.”

It’s a fair take from Saban, as there might not even be 12 teams that have a chance to win it all or deserve to be in the playoffs. 24 teams make it even worse, and Saban made it clear that it’s all about money.

Although Saban and plenty of fans don’t like the expansion, it won’t change now and could end up expanding even more down the road to bring in even more money.

Related: College Football Playoff expanding to 24 teams is all for money (not for quality)

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This story was originally published by Lindy's Sports on Oct 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Lindy's Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.