Paul Finebaum Delivers Strong Opinion on College Football Playoff Expansion Debate

Paul Finebaum is not budging. As the College Football Playoff format debate stretches deeper into 2026, the ESPN and SEC Network analyst keeps returning to the same answer when asked where he stands.

Sixteen teams. Not 24.

During an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum told the podcast hosts that he cannot find a logical case for the larger field, even as momentum builds behind the scenes for a jump that would nearly double the current format.

Why Finebaum opposes a 24 team playoff

"I'm very much at 16, Greg, and I just don't understand the argument," Finebaum said. "I don't understand a coherent argument for 24."

His reasoning starts with a basic competitive truth. Indiana won the national title last season as the Big Ten claimed its third straight crown, but the field of true contenders never came close to 12, let alone 24.

Finebaum doesn't believe there were 12 teams in last year's playoff who had a realistic chance to win the title, let alone 24. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"We all know there probably aren't 16 teams that are capable of winning the national championship," Finebaum said. "If that's the case, there weren't 12 last year, and there certainly aren't 24."

The dilution argument carries the most weight for him. Finebaum acknowledged the access push and the television revenue, then drew a hard line.

"I do believe the regular season in college football is special and sacrosanct, and it's unlike any other," he said. "With so many spots available and probably already locked up, I have a hard time believing some of those late November games are going to be anything but just okay."

What 24 teams would mean for the calendar

Finebaum is not alone in pumping the brakes. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey echoed the same caution on The Paul Finebaum Show from the Regions Tradition Pro-Am in Birmingham, telling Finebaum the sport has not done the legwork on what a 24-team field actually requires.

"We have to do the homework," Sankey said. "When we went from 4 to 12, I think one of the mistakes was we announced we're going to 12 and then negotiated with the media. We should understand the media marketplace before we have an increase in, for example, the number of teams."

The AFCA has formally pushed for the season to end by the second Monday in January. Its proposal calls to "eliminate conference championship games," "reduce scheduled bye weeks from two to one" and have "future playoff models maximize the number of participants while honoring the proposed completion date."

Finebaum sees the contradiction. Adding rounds while shortening the runway forces a near August opener, something he flagged directly to McElroy and Cubelic when laying out his Week Zero solution and his frustration with the NFL crowding December.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has continued to push the 24-team model, while Sankey has held at 16. That impasse kept the field at 12 for 2026.

Add us as a preferred source on Google