Year 1 of the 12-team College Football Playoff is coming to a close. Was the expansion a success?

ATLANTA — The bracket plastered along the College Football Hall of Fame’s glass window starts with 12 teams and funnels down to two: Notre Dame and Ohio State, the teams that will play Monday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium next door. To get to this point required decades of debate, years of planning and a month of actual football, all of it designed to answer the sport’s eternal question: How best to decide a national champion?

Bill Hancock oversaw the purported solutions to that question for nearly 20 years, as college football transitioned from the much-maligned, computer-rating-dependent Bowl Championship Series to the four-team College Football Playoff to this season’s expanded format. To Hancock, the larger field offers the sport’s best opportunity yet to extend its appeal while still honoring the wishes of its diehard consumers.

“College football has never fulfilled its potential, in terms of fan interest across the country,” said Hancock, who stepped down as the executive director of the CFP after last season. “It’s crazy to say that, because college football is No. 2 across the board in viewership and interest to the NFL. So it’s been strong, strong, strong — but it always has had room for improvement. I think the 12-team Playoff, the expanded Playoff, has already led to improvement, and I think it will lead to more.”

Despite hiccups related to seeding, scheduling and sluggish early-round matchups, the stakeholders of the expanded Playoff have pronounced the first year a success. The product gained momentum as the tournament unfolded. The number of average viewers nearly doubled from the first round to the semifinals. The finale pits two of the most popular teams in the sport, a boon for ESPN, which in 2024 agreed to a new six-year, $7.8 billion broadcast deal for the CFP. Ticket prices for Monday’s game have risen on the resale market. Sportsbooks have reported heightened interest from gamblers.

“The games in the first year have been so much better,” said Ben King, a 39-year-old Notre Dame fan from Goshen, Ind. “I guess in the first round, it wasn’t competitive, but after that it has been. The semifinals were unbelievably exciting. So I’m not complaining, at all. I don’t want it to expand any more, though.”

Along the way, the new format transformed the purpose of the Playoff. No longer does the system reward the teams that played best throughout the regular season; now the champion will be the team that performed best during the postseason. That experience, so familiar in the professional ranks, is still foreign to college football.

The actual participants in the game sounded delighted about the expanded field. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day declared it “great for college football” last week. Neither No. 7 seed Notre Dame (14-1) nor No. 8 seed Ohio State (13-2) would have qualified under the previous system. Ohio State received “a second gasp of life,” as Buckeyes kicker Jayden Fielding put it, after a devastating late-season loss to Michigan. Notre Dame experienced a similar reprieve after a shocking September upset at the hands of Northern Illinois.

“Prior to this year, if you lose one game, unless you’re Georgia, Alabama or Ohio State, you’re out,” Fighting Irish nose tackle Howard Cross III said. “If this was a four-team Playoff, us or Ohio State wouldn’t have a chance to play in this game.”

Each team combines a historic lineage with a roster that reflects the reality of big-time college athletics in 2025. Ohio State financed its roster through $20.5 million in name, image and likeness agreements, its athletic director said. Notre Dame, though less transparent about its NIL commitments, is also believed to have increased spending to keep up with the sport’s other powerhouses. Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard transferred to Columbus after four seasons at Kansas State. Irish quarterback Riley Leonard spent two seasons as a starter at Duke. Each player reportedly netted a seven-figure deal.

The matchup offers a marquee finale for a tournament that did not begin on a rousing note. All four of the first-round games were decided by 10 points or more. Three of them competed with the NFL for viewers; CFP executive director Rich Clark indicated on Saturday he had been in contact with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about working together on future scheduling. Penn State’s drubbing of SMU drew fewer eyeballs than the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The blowouts prompted carping from those who felt snubbed, like Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, who commemorated the early-round romps by posting on X, “Way to keep us on the edge of our seats Committee …. Riveting.” In the quarterfinal rounds, there were empty seats at some games as fans dealt with short-notice travel plans in inclement weather.

The format also drew criticism for its seeding. The system called for the four highest-ranked conference champions to receive byes. The architects believed this necessary to protect the sanctity of the regular season. So Boise State, the champions of the Mountain West, landed the third seed despite finishing at No. 8 in the final Associated Press poll and No. 9 in the CFP selection committee’s final rankings. Arizona State, the Big 12 champs, drew the fourth seed despite a No. 10 poll and No. 12 CFP ranking. Each team lost its opening matchup. So did Big Ten champion Oregon, undefeated during the regular season and a unanimous No. 1 in the final poll. The Ducks were smashed by the Buckeyes at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Georgia, the No. 2 seed and the kings of the SEC, lost to Notre Dame at the Sugar Bowl a day later.

Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner and one of the architects of the expanded Playoff, conceded earlier this month that the rules could be revised in the future. “We’ve got a responsibility to have what I would consider is a competitive and fair format,” he said. The CFP’s board of managers met on Sunday to discuss potential alterations to the format but adjourned having agreed only on continuing to discuss the topic into the spring. Few major changes are expected for next season.

While long-time fans found reasons to nitpick, newcomers could be forgiven for confusion. “All of these things take time to build,” said Robert Fishman, a media analyst for the research firm MoffettNathanson. The college football landscape has undergone profound changes in recent years, some of which require explanation for the non-devoted viewer: Yes, Texas plays in the SEC now. Yes, the Pac-12 no longer exists. No, actually, Notre Dame still hasn’t joined a conference. The structure of the tournament, with an unusual number of entrants and complicated seeding, also created some bewilderment.

Added Fishman, “As a casual fan, you’re tuning it for the first time, you’re like, ‘Wait, how many schools am I going to be watching? And when? And what round is this?’”

“The tough thing for college football fans is realizing that it’s just changed,” said Jim Hinkle, a 60-year-old Buckeyes supporter from Tipp City, Ohio. “Like Ohio State fans, the Michigan game — although we hate Michigan — it’s not as important anymore. The conference championships, not as important. Everything changes. And you’ve got to get used to it.”

If those early games produced duds on the field, they still generated dollars in the gambling world. The prospect of hope, combined with easier access to online sportsbooks, led to a surge in activity. There were more games to bet and more teams to back.

“This is the most money I’ve seen come in on our futures book in a long time,” BetMGM trading manager Seamus Magee said, with bettors wagering on long shots like Arizona State, Boise State and Indiana to win it all. (All three were eliminated after one game.) The early exits from would-be Cinderellas did not quash the market. BetMGM reported that it took in nearly 25 percent more in bets for this year’s semifinals compared to 2024, with another surge expected for Monday. … This game coming up, it should be the most money we write on a college football game.”

There were more definite financial incentives for the teams who advanced. Ohio State will bring back $20 million to the Big Ten, which also reaped the rewards of participation by Penn State, Oregon and Indiana. As an independent, Notre Dame will keep all of its $20 million.

There were intangible benefits, too. On Dec. 20, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson waded through a sea of cream and crimson as Hoosiers fans gathered about a 10-minute trek away from Notre Dame Stadium. “It was all different walks of life of IU fans, across the board, from longtime supporters to recent alumni,” Dolson said. “I couldn’t believe how massive it was.” The experience would not have been possible under the old system. Indiana won its first 10 games but lost to Ohio State and failed to qualify for the Big Ten Championship Game. The expanded field kept the dream alive.

The Irish, of course, ended Indiana’s dream in a dominant performance. Yet Dolson considered the mere opportunity to be a significant achievement for the school, which historically has not been a national title contender.

“For a program trying to build and establish the brand, having an opportunity to play in the CFP in the expanded format was invaluable,” Dolson said. “I’m just so glad we were in that inaugural class, I guess you could say, the first 12 teams in. I hope it really does a lot for college football, moving forward.”

The tournament picked up steam as it went. The games became more competitive. Notre Dame required a last-minute field goal to defeat Penn State at the Orange Bowl. An 83-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer snuffed out Texas’ comeback in the Cotton Bowl.

The average viewership jumped from 10.6 million in the first round to 16.9 million in the quarterfinals to 19.2 million in the semifinals, according to Front Office Sports. The ratings were stronger in last year’s semifinals, which included 27.7 million viewers for Michigan’s Rose Bowl victory over Alabama on New Year’s Day. With Notre Dame and Ohio State set for Monday, the finale could contend with the record of 33.4 million viewers set during the inaugural CFP championship game in 2015.

The CFP will likely never surpass the NFL in the attention economy. The crowd of reporters at Saturday’s media day was “lightly populated compared to Super Bowl media day,” according to Bryan Curtis, who covers sports media for The Ringer. A booth offering players a chance to pet dogs added some charm, in addition to a tidepool of white fur on the black carpet. Fans traipsed through the Georgia World Congress Center, given a chance to kick field goals at uprights sponsored by Allstate or chuck footballs at a stand for “the official smoked sausage and deli meat of the College Football Playoff.” The occasional Georgia, Florida or Clemson supporter stood out in the crush of blue and gold and scarlet and gray. Some represented the type of fans the tournament hopes to ensnare: people without any affiliation at all.

“I just think, across the board,” Hancock said, “the event is going to bring new, passionate people to college football.”

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos: David Buono, Joe Robbins, Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Getty; Christian Petersen / CFP)