Brynn Anderson/Associated Press
Alabama coach Nick Saban is fine with the College Football Playoff as currently constituted.
Saban told reporters Thursday he believes an expansion of the current playoff system would be bad for the sport.
“I think the playoff has become and will continue to become … if it’s expanded, to minimize the importance of those games, maybe to the point where those games won’t even exist,” Saban said. “I’m not sure that is the best thing, overall, for college football.”
The College Football Playoff is currently contracted to four teams through 2026. There has been chatter of increasing the number of teams from four to eight, though that would require a renegotiation of the current television contract with ESPN.
Saban theorized players competing in non-playoff bowl games would begin to skip out on the events to prepare for the NFL draft. He added he thought the trend would ultimately lead to those games phasing out.
“I’m not really for going eight teams in a playoff,” Saban said. “It’s a hypothetical question, that I have enough issues and problems to solve without thinking about something that may or may not happen.”
From a logical standpoint, it’s kind of hard to see where Saban is coming from. There are already bowl games seen as more “important” than the remaining ones—the so-called New Year’s Six. Adding four more teams to the playoffs would simply add two more of those games into the playoff mix each year.
There’s really nothing that changes from the current system, aside from the number of teams in the playoff. Players who skip non-essential bowl games are going to skip them regardless of whether there are four or eight teams playing for a national title.
From a competitive standpoint, Saban’s logic is clear. An eight-team playoff adds another game to his postseason. That’s another chance to be beaten and lessens Saban’s chances at winning national championships.
The through line isn’t hard to spot.
from Viral News Show http://bit.ly/2ERlTOY
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