Michael Wilbon Slams College Football Playoff Expansion, Calls It a ‘Money Grab'

College football has been in the headlines recently over the idea of expanding the College Football Playoff from 12 teams to 24.

The pushback has been fierce.

Many fans and analysts argue that doubling the playoff field would devalue, if not outright destroy, college football's regular season, widely viewed as one of the most unforgiving and meaningful regular seasons in American sports.

Now, a major media voice entered the debate.

Speaking Thursday on ESPN‘s “First Take,” Michael Wilbon unloaded on the proposed 24-team CFP format, calling it a "money grab" and, later, "heinous."

"There are not 24 teams worthy of a playoff. There are not 16 teams worthy of a playoff. I’m not sure every year there are 12. There just aren’t. We know what this is, it’s a money grab," Wilbon said. "This is about ESPN, ABC, and FOX. This is about some turf wars going on there with conference affiliations. The ACC doesn’t really want it, might have to go along with it. The SEC doesn’t want it. Nobody should want 24, nobody."

"We hear all of this nonsense about health and safety. What hypocrisy. Health and safety. So you want to add maybe as many as five games to a college schedule … 12 games is enough. If you add a 13th to the conference championship, fine. Now you’re going to go to maybe as many as 18 games, and you talk about health and safety."

"It is heinous to try to put a 24-team playoff out there for college football," Wilbon added.

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The College Football Playoff debuted in 2014, replacing the BCS with a four-team bracket and a rotating cast of iconic bowl games: the Rose, Peach, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, and Fiesta Bowls.

But over the next decade, the loudest criticism was exclusivity. Undefeated teams were left out, and Group of Five programs often felt that even historic seasons were not enough to earn a legitimate shot at a national title.

So college football expanded.

The 12-team era arrived in 2024, and financially, it worked. Big time.

ESPN's CFP rights deal ballooned into a multibillion-dollar machine, and expanded playoff games have delivered massive audiences.

The 2025-26 CFP averaged 16.3 million viewers across its 11 games, with the national championship drawing 30.1 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched national title game in CFP history.

So, if 12 teams already produce exploding revenue, why stop there, right?

More teams would mean more playoff inventory, more television money, more brands staying alive deeper into December, and more access for programs outside the traditional power structure.

The criticism, of course, is that the sport risks prioritizing revenue over competitive value.

If too many teams get in, college football's famously unforgiving regular season could lose much of what makes it special.

There is also the physical toll, something Wilbon emphasized.

A 24-team playoff could push some programs toward 17- or 18-game schedules, creeping closer to an NFL workload, a burden even professional players have openly pushed back against.

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Will 24 teams actually happen? Not immediately. The CFP remains locked into its 12-team format, and any major expansion requires a unanimous agreement between the power conferences.

Still, momentum toward some form of future expansion remains very real.

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 11:57 AM.