24?  That would mean only 4 SEC Teams would be eliminated from the playoffs?  😎 😎 

16 is MAX. Anything more is ridiculous.

Personally I think 12 is fine

I say do it just like the lower brackets...16 teams...NO byes...1 hosts 16 and so on...higher seeds host the lower seeds until you get to 4 teams...Rotate the semi final sites and finals sites by geographic region so the northern teams ain't playing away games to these southern teams every year...Last year you had Texas playing OSU in the friggin cotton bowl and this years finals is a home game for Miami...To me that is unacceptable...The advantage Miami has in this game to me is ridiculous...They get to prepare at home...Sleep in their own beds and drive to their own familiar ballpark...Indiana has to travel half way across the country stay in a hotel and play what is an away game in their opponents home field...I am going to be curious to see how the ticket sales fall and how much of a home field advantage Miami is going to have...I am sure this isn't going to be an even steven setup by any means...This shouldn't happen for a championship game that should be played on a neutral field...To say this isn't a big advantage is just purely illogical...

@the-funeral-director  when these plans were made for the playoffs nobody knew Miami was going to be in the NC game. These games are huge and things have to be planned out. The only way to make everything fair is play at the college stadiums. Can’t wait wait to see who’s in the NC game then decide because there’s so much that goes into planning these games. I guess they could make the Miami players sleep in hotels.

On a side note, playing at home really wipes out the travel expense. 

Does anyone know roughly the travel cost for a game like this for the team flying in? 

I don't give a rip how far in advance this was booked...NO schools home field should be involved in this thing...With the type of money being thrown around in big time college football they can schedule this thing around professional sports stadiums not being used as home fields for these college teams...Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Green Bay, Washington/Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit...Yankee Stadium...Plenty of places to play these games where there isn't a home field advantage for any of these teams...Rotate it by region and designate 4 to 6 stadiums for the rotation each year...I would have to say the expense of flying in and housing and feeding the players, staff and coaches has got to be at least 1.2 to 1.5 million dollars...Plus shipping in all of the equipment etc...To me it isn't even the cost but the difference in familiarity with your surroundings...You have one team who is going to be going through their daily routine and sleeping in their own beds every night playing a home game...The other team has to travel, will be eating and sleeping in an unfamiliar environment...Practicing in a foreign facility while the other team is practicing on their own field...This all sounds trivial but I can tell you to the players it is anything but...One team is going through their every day routine while the other team is going to have to create the sense of normalcy artificially...Not to mention the climate difference from Indiana to Miami as well...To me this is a disgrace and should never happen...Why are all of these playoff games in the Georgia dome, superdome, Miami, Phoenix, L.A. and Dallas? It's ridiculous and nobody calls em out on it...

@the-funeral-director Southerners would cry, betch and whine if playing the championship anywhere but their home fields was proposed. As I’ve told a certain southerner on this forum many times, if they come north they know they’ll get their asses kicked worse than what happened in 1865.

The NFL has a similar problem since the Super Bowls are scheduled years in advance. One reason the major bowls are in the south is that fewer people want to spend vacation time in the north in the middle of winter. There is really no way to change the venue once it is set just because one of the teams is closer to home. Thousands of people and multiple tour companies could not just switch reservations at the last minute.

The problem I have with it is this is competition not a meaningless vacation bowl...These games need to be scheduled with competitive integrity first and foremost...We are crowning a national champion here...These are playoff games...My personal opinion is the higher seeds should host until the semi final games...The SEC knows the jig is up...There is an article today on ESPN that shows what is going on behind the scenes...Read what the SEC wants...It's obvious they don't want this set up with automatic bids...They want the 16 "BEST" teams in...Remember that spectacular piece about how they rig this thing...You rank 14 SEC teams in the top 25 and now they have the strength of schedule deal locked up...Why are they all ranked so high? They haven't been in a final in 2 years and have gotten their collective asses kicked on the regular for the last 3 years...I wonder how long they can keep this con going? The B1G wants automatic qualifiers from the power 4 and the SEC is balking at it...I wonder why? Like I said for years they just want to play with themselves because they can't win an open tournament...

@psugrad81 that’s what I was trying to say 😂 go the FD route games just need to be played on campus and wherever the chips fall, they fall. I’m good with it, it makes better sense to me anyway.

@the-funeral-director No one outside a a few people give a rats a$$ where the semis and finals are. Who cares, the crowd is usually equal. Played up north they would be in a dome in Indy or Minnesota anyway.

I don't care where the games are played; at my age, I like the comfort of my chair, libations and food in the home bar, ability to change the channel if the game is going south, 70 inch flat screen as I'd be watching the game on the jumbotron anyways, and having the head 10 paces off the game room is a winner.

@roaminglion when folks go to a bowl game they don't usually just go for game day. There is usually a pep rally the day before plus other things to do. Going to these in 20 or 30 degree weather is quite different from going in 70+ degree weather.

I’d rather watch football on TV but I’d rather watch races being at the racetrack. Something about being at the race having the grill going drinking a few Bud Lights spending time with the family and then watching the race live. TV doesn’t give racing justice. I love watching football when it’s snowing especially if it’s Penn St they look good in the snow but I’d rather watch it on tv I hate being cold 😂

Racing, hockey, wrestling, and crew!; all sports that are best seen in person, imo. 

@psu61 I’ve been to one hockey game and man that was fun. We we t to the Thrashers games back when Atlanta had a team and we had a blast. Wrestling is fun live or on tv I just enjoy watching it either way.

Curling, live or watch on TV?  Myself, TV.  That way you can take a nap.