CFP Expansion: Who Wants 24 Teams (and Who Doesn’t)? | Matt Hayes Talks College Football on TNR

The Next Round

Football, News, Basketball, Sports, Sports News

4.9 • 890 Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Get ready for a deep dive into the biggest storylines shaping the future of college football as USA Today’s Matt Hayes joins The Next Round! 🏈 In this conversation, we break down the most pressing issues across the sport—from potential College Football Playoff expansion to the growing power dynamics between conferences and television networks. If you're a die-hard fan of the SEC, Big Ten, or the national landscape as a whole, this episode is packed with insight you won’t want to miss. 🔥 Topics Covered: The AFCA’s recommendation for maximum participation in the College Football Playoff Is a 24-team playoff closer than we think? Is SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey standing alone in opposing expansion? What happens to conference championship games if the playoff grows? How much pressure is on Lane Kiffin to win quickly at LSU? Could college football programs eventually negotiate their own TV deals? Matt Hayes brings expert analysis, insider perspective, and bold opinions on where the sport is heading next. 👍 If you love college football content like this: Smash the LIKE button SUBSCRIBE to The Next Round for more interviews, analysis, and breaking news Turn on notifications so you never miss an episode 💬 Drop your thoughts in the comments: Do you want a 24-team playoff? Should conference title games stick around? 📺 Stay tuned to The Next Round—your home for college football conversation, SEC talk, and the biggest voices in the game. #CollegeFootball #CFBPlayoff #SEC #BigTen #LaneKiffin #TheNextRound #LSU #football Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Some follow the noise.
0:03.0	Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion
0:07.7	dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story.
0:13.6	Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com.
0:18.6	Here's Matt Hayes. He joins us now one of the great voices of college football,
0:22.6	longtime writer as well.
0:24.2	Matt, thanks for being in on the show.
0:26.0	Just first, your initial reaction,
0:28.4	they have no power,
0:30.4	but the AFCA making the recommendation to jump straight to 24,
0:34.6	what's your initial reaction to that?
0:37.1	It's like me recommending that all
0:39.4	man should have hair. Come on. Yeah. It literally means nothing. Look, I understand what they're
0:47.6	trying to do. They're trying to elongate their careers. They're trying to continue to cash in,
0:51.5	which is, I completely understand that. I'm all for it. I just, I'm a little
0:56.6	tired of the, it's unsustainable mantra from them because it clearly is sustainable over and
1:03.7	over and over season after season after season. And I don't understand what we're looking at right now.
1:10.7	You can say, all right, well, college sports is going to die. You know, there will be programs that are and I don't understand what we're looking at right now.
1:12.8	You can say, all right, well, college sports is going to die. I mean, you know, there will be programs that are minor sports programs that will have a problem staying afloat.
1:18.7	Some will no longer stay afloat.
1:21.2	And if that's an issue, yeah, I absolutely agree that that's an issue.
1:25.5	But I go back to what Trevor Albert said about three years ago.
	...

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