What is your preferred playoff format?

[Professor Chaos]

A lot of chatter about this in various threads recently so I thought it would be interesting to gauge what the community sentiment is. I've seen suggestions all the way from 8 to 32 teams as being the best format so I'm curious what the consensus is (if there is one).

Disclaimer on the poll options: I know we'd all love to see all teams seeded in any format but that's just not realistic so I'm assuming that the 16, 20, and 24 team fields all have the same amount of seeds as they did in their last iteration of that format. Similarly I'm assuming that a theoretical 32 team field wouldn't add seeds from the 24 team field and that a theoretical 8 team field wouldn't take away seeds from a 16 team field.

Disclaimer #2: Also be aware that taking away autobids altogether is incredibly unlikely so I wouldn't assume the NCAA will ever do that. However, it is an NCAA rule that at least half the field has to be at-large selections so with a 16 team field the NEC and Pioneer would likely lose their autobids and with an 8 team field a whole bunch of conferences would lose their autobid.

Feel free to throw out your theories in the thread replies or pitch your preferred format.

[Professor Chaos]

I prefer the format we have now over any of the others. I like the break between the semis and the title game and I like the fact that it is a true tournament at least amongst the top 8 seeds (who are the true national title contenders anyway). But I also like the fact that every FCS conference that wants one gets an autobid which is why I'm opposed to anything less than a 20 team field.

It would be ideal if we could skip Thanksgiving weekend altogether (which a 16 team field finishing in January or an 8 team field would allow) but that would shrink the field too much for my liking. A 20 team field would be my second choice since it cuts those Thanksgiving weekend games in half and still allows for each conference to have an autobid but I don't like that it would likely cut the seeds down to 5.

I feel like 32 teams would be too much especially since it forces everyone to play on Thanksgiving weekend which would be bad for attendance. I also prefer to give the true title contenders a bye week to rest up (and I think it does help ticket sales for that first playoff game for teams on bye to have 2 weeks to sell tickets instead of 1).

[ElCid]

I prefer the format we have now over any of the others. I like the break between the semis and the title game and I like the fact that it is a true tournament at least amongst the top 8 seeds (who are the true national title contenders anyway). But I also like the fact that every FCS conference that wants one gets an autobid which is why I'm opposed to anything less than a 20 team field.

Yup, this about sums it up. I also like the autobids. It is truly the only objective part of the selection process. Everything else is arguable and therefore subject to opinion and politics. As a concept, it is a beautiful compromise, kind of like the Senate and HOR, to offer a slight analogy. Every conf gets a minimum, and the best of any given year get more with no conf getting a monopoly forever. Because that is what would happen if autobids are eliminated. I can see it now for some top hotshot FCS recruit, oh, so and so team, they are in Conf X and they never get a shot at the playoffs, why would would I go there to play? The rich would get richer and the poor would get poorer. The playoffs are not the only reason people choose to play at any given school obviously, at least in the FCS, but it would impact some and that would be enough to turn the wheel.

[CHIP72]

The current format is fine and IMO the field size is the appropriate size, but all DI-AA/FCS conferences should participate in the playoffs. (I'm looking at you in particular Ivy League.)

I've said this for a while, but IMO 24 teams is the right number of playoff teams for DI-AA/FCS, 32 teams would be the appropriate number of playoff teams for D2, and 48 teams would be the ideal number of playoff teams for D3, based on the number of total teams in each classification. (Don't even get me started on DI-A/FBS football, which at the very least should have a playoff field that includes all conference champions, but it is very, very unlikely that will ever happen.)

[Sycamore62]

I'd like to see 32, seeded 1-32 with no byes. I dont like the possibility of a team getting a week to rest injuries because their critical 1-2 week injury happened at the right time.

[WestCoastAggie]

I'm in favor of ANY format that puts at least $800,000 directly into the coffers of NCAT. Since 2015, the Celebration Bowl has done just that. Regardless of the format, the NCAA needs to abolish the bid format and foot all of the expenses of the playoff games. In fact, they need to get a muliyear TV deal to pay for the FCS Playoffs.

[Professor Chaos]

I'm in favor of ANY format that puts at least $800,000 directly into the coffers of NCAT. Since 2015, the Celebration Bowl has done just that. Regardless of the format, the NCAA needs to abolish the bid format and foot all of the expenses of the playoff games. In fact, they need to get a muliyear TV deal to pay for the FCS Playoffs.

I'd also like to see the FCS playoffs TV rights bid out separately from the other NCAA championships (which the NCAA gets $40M+ annually from ESPN). I think it is one of the more lucrative in terms of TV ratings of the 24 NCAA championships that are tied to the $500M contract between ESPN and the NCAA that runs from 2012-2024. That's the only way the NCAA will ever justify dropping more cash than they already do on the FCS playoffs. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that though.

[WestCoastAggie]

I'd also like to see the FCS playoffs TV rights bid out separately from the other NCAA championships (which the NCAA gets $40M+ annually from ESPN). I think it is one of the more lucrative in terms of TV ratings of the 24 NCAA championships that are tied to the $500M contract between ESPN and the NCAA that runs from 2012-2024. That's the only way the NCAA will ever justify dropping more cash than they already do on the FCS playoffs. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that though.

The FCS Playoffs should be bid on separately, along with Outdoor T&F (especially during olympic years). But I do agree that this is a pipe-dream for now.

[WeAreThePride]

I'm in favor of ANY format that puts at least $800,000 directly into the coffers of NCAT. Since 2015, the Celebration Bowl has done just that. Regardless of the format, the NCAA needs to abolish the bid format and foot all of the expenses of the playoff games. In fact, they need to get a muliyear TV deal to pay for the FCS Playoffs.

Wow.

[Outsider1]

I'm in favor of ANY format that puts at least $800,000 directly into the coffers of NCAT. Since 2015, the Celebration Bowl has done just that. Regardless of the format, the NCAA needs to abolish the bid format and foot all of the expenses of the playoff games. In fact, they need to get a muliyear TV deal to pay for the FCS Playoffs.

Does FCS make the NCAA enough money to do this? I like the idea.