Michigan State athletic director Bill Beekman has not been his new permanent gig long but even he knows College Football Playoff expansion is coming at some point in the near future. Even better? He thinks moving to eight teams is a positive too.
“My personal opinion is that expansion is probably inevitable. And I think at some level, that’s a good thing,” Beekman told the Detroit Free Press at the Big Ten athletic directors meetings this week. “I do think there are very real concerns about how long you make the schedule and how many games you play, and there are concerns about spreading that too much over two semesters.
“At the same time, it’s such a small number of teams. And so if you got two teams playing one extra game, it’s not 300 or even 50 or 60 – it’s two teams playing one extra game. I think in the greater scheme of things, I think its probably good for the game and good for the teams involved if you move it from four to eight.”
Beekman was on campus when the Spartans made their lone run to the College Football Playoff back in 2015, which resulted in a humbling loss at the Cotton Bowl semifinal to Alabama. He’s far from the only one to call for the move to eight teams in the postseason event however. Fellow Big Ten AD Barry Alvarez went public with his calls for expansion, among other topics, earlier in the spring and Michigan’s Warde Manuel hinted that he’s come around to changes as well.
The CFP Board of Managers released a statement and held an impromptu press conference in the Bay Area at the site of the national title game saying it’s too early to discuss expansion at this point but it’s pretty clear that others in the sport are starting to ring the bell louder and louder with calls for going to eight teams sooner rather than later. As a result, it’s no wonder that more and more folks are thinking it’s inevitable at some point