Everybody Gets a Trophy

You know how in youth sports, every kid, regardless of how good they are, regardless of their role on the team, regardless of if their team even wins or loses, gets a participation trophy after the season?  The value of that will never cease to be a source of debate, and both sides have their reasons.  Most people can agree, though, that as you get older, you realize that participation trophies are meaningless and value the trophies that to win because you have to earn them so much more. 

I don't bring this up to rag on youth sports and/or participation trophies.  I bring it up because that's the best analogy I can think of for what the Big Ten and SEC want to turn college sports into.  Because that's exactly what it feels like!  They don't want anybody to feel left out.  So, instead of actually getting better and earning their places in the College Football Playoff, why not just expand both?!  There's more money to be made, sure, but that's not the real motivation here.  The real motivation is to get more mediocre teams from supersized Power 4 conferences into what should be marquee, championship events.  Just so they don't feel bad.

The Big Ten has really been pushing for a 24-team College Football Playoff.  You don't need me to tell you how ridiculous that is.  The 12-team playoff has so far been a success in the two years since the field expanded, and further expansion to either 14 or 16 seems inevitable.  But doubling the size of the field?  That's too much.  You can't tell me that there are 24 teams deserving of playing for a National Championship.

Fortunately, the SEC has resisted.  But you know the Big Ten won't let up unless/until they get their way.  And the only reason they want the field expanded is so that they can get more of their teams in.  They don't just want a larger field.  They want a larger field with a guaranteed number of bids for each conference.  So, you wouldn't even necessarily need to be good.  You'd just need to finish fifth in the Big Ten.

Their rationale for this is just as stupid.  It's because, with expansion, the Power 4 conferences all have so many teams now.  Well, what did they expect when they went to 18-team leagues?!  Somebody has to finish 13th!  And no one forced the conferences to expand to ridiculous numbers.  Just as nobody forced schools to join these megaconferences.  Potentially finishing 13th with a mediocre record is a consequence of the league size.

Under the Big Ten's preferred format, the College Football Playoff would start the first weekend in December.  Conference championship games would be eliminated.  That's really what the SEC's big hang up is.  The SEC Championship Game means a lot to them and generates a ton of money for the conference.  So, they want to see it preserved.  Which, right now, is the saving grace that's preventing the 24-team College Football Playoff from becoming a reality.

Don't give the SEC too much credit, though.  Because they're the ringleaders behind the push to expand March Madness, which looks like it's all but a done deal.  Unless something drastic happens (beyond the incredibly negative public feedback), the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments will expand from 68 to 76 teams next season.  For the stated reason of "giving Power 4 conference teams more access to at-large bids."

While it's about more than just one team, the fact that Auburn didn't get into the Tournament this season is the "proof" of their argument that the field needs to be expanded.  I'm not rehashing the whole Auburn vs. Miami Ohio at-large debate, but the committee ultimately decided to go with one-loss Miami Ohio over one-game-over-.500 Auburn as the last team in the field.  To their credit, Auburn not only played in the NIT, they won it.  But the fact that they were essentially a .500 team trying to make a case that they "belonged" in the tournament was patently absurd.

In an expanded field, however, Auburn wouldn't have even been on the bubble.  They would've been comfortably in.  Which they also would've been in a 68-team field had they lost fewer games!  So, make no mistake, that's the motivation here.  They think it's "unfair" that mediocre, middle-to-bottom-of-the-pack teams in supersized Power 4 conferences don't get in when they're "better" than some of the mid-major teams also under consideration.  To which I say, "Boo hoo!" 

Again, somebody has to finish last in these conferences.  And, if the top teams go 16-2 or 15-3, somebody else has to go 6-12 or 5-13 in conference play.  That's what happens when you have conferences that are ridiculously large.  Why should we reward these teams with at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament?  (If bids were being added so that mid-major teams also had more access, I'd be all for it, but that's definitely not what's happening here.)

And, not to mention the fact that the NCAA Tournament is the closest thing there is to a perfect sporting event.  A big reason for that is because 64 is easily divisible.  Adding the 65th team was no big deal since it was a little appetizer.  That eventually became the First Four and a field of 68, which still didn't have that big of an impact on the larger bracket.  Going to 76 teams, though, that's where it becomes cumbersome.  And for what reason?  There's absolutely no need to expand March Madness.  So, of course, they're gonna do it anyway.

That's really the biggest problem with the proposed expansions in both the College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament.  We've all heard the expression "less is more."  This is a situation where the saying applies.  Bigger does not necessarily mean better.  In both of these cases, in fact, bigger would accomplish nothing other than diluting the product.  So why do it?

Are there good teams that don't make the field each year?  Yes.  Enough to warrant such drastic expansion to both events?  No.  Sure, those teams would no longer get snubbed.  But you'd also be adding a bunch of mediocre teams who have no business competing for a championship (if "competing" is even the right word to use).  Especially since it's not even actually about inclusion.  It's a blatant money grab designed just to make sure they get more teams (and thus more money) for themselves.

Expansion isn't just a bad idea, it's completely unnecessary.  People could probably get on board with a 16-team College Football Playoff, but is anyone outside of the Big Ten clamoring for it to be 24?  Likewise, who actually has such a problem with the 68-team March Madness field that they feel it "needs" to be expanded?  But, since it's what the Big Ten wants in football and the SEC wants in basketball, it's almost certainly gonna happen regardless of what anybody else thinks.