The College Football Playoff appears to be heading for another big change. After expanding from four to 12 teams in the playoff field, it could be expanding again to allow more teams to join the party. Although the Oregon Ducks have cracked the playoff field the past two seasons, adding more teams to the field means more games in the postseason, putting more barriers in the program's path to a championship. Dan Lanning is certainly hunting a national title for the Ducks, but he is also taking an interest in what is best for the future of the sport. In an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Lanning backed the idea of playoff expansion because of the financial benefits teams and conferences could receive from television revenue, which largely flows down from the massive television contracts the College Football Playoff has with networks like ESPN. "I'm great with four, I'm great with 12, but ideally, if we're talking about it's a TV problem, you have to generate more revenue," Lanning said. "So if you have to generate more revenue, what does that mean? It means add more teams. We've been in the playoff the last two years. It doesn't necessarily make sense for Oregon to add more playoff teams, because we've put ourselves in that position the last few years.
"I'm great with four. I'm great with twelve. ... But I do think it makes sense for college football [to add more teams]." Oregon HC Dan Lanning speaks on the possible CFP expansion 🏈 (via @richeisenshow) pic.twitter.com/xVQKsvNfSg — ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) August 14, 2026 "But I do think it makes sense for college football," Lanning continued. "You're going to have more fans engaged, you're going to have less guys sitting out of bowl games, you're going to have less people battling with the portal." The playoff field could expand to 16 or even 24 teams, depending on how the debate between conference commissioners and the CFP Board of Managers resolves. A longer postseason could further delay the end of the season, which would be a big problem for programs. The 2026-27 season is scheduled to end with the national championship game on Jan. 25, 2027. Given the fact that coaching changes happen in November and December, recruiting classes are signed in early December, and players enter the portal at the same time, teams could be decimated and coaching staffs can be overworked with so much going on at the same time. Lanning has called for a change to the college football calendar and continued to push for an earlier end to the season. "A portal open in-season creates a market that's really hard to keep track of," Lanning said. "Guys are enticed to hop in the portal because they can go somewhere else and make more money while the season is still being played. I still think the first solution to any of this is making sure the season ends Jan. 1. It's a sacred day for college football; what can we do to make that happen?" There is far too much downtime for teams that make it to the playoff to play their first game. From the end of the regular season, or the end of conference championship weekend, to the first round of playoff matchups, some teams could have a whole month out of game action. Lanning has supported a 24-team playoff model in the past, citing how it supports the rest of the college football landscape, rather than just the program's goal to win a championship. More teams means more competition, but if the Ducks are clicking on all cylinders heading into the postseason, the additional obstacles to overcome may not matter. "It's going to be more like March Madness where who has the hot hand, winning at the end, has the best chance," Lanning said. "That's kind of what it's been in college football the last few years. Indiana really had the hot hand, Ohio State got hung up and then got really hot after they played Tennessee and us (in 2024-25) and traveled into the later part of the playoff. "There's benefits, there's negatives, but I think if the revenue is the reason we can't do it, then that's the thing we need to figure out. I think you create more revenue by making it a 24-team playoff." Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions. This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Dan Lanning voices support for potential CFP expansion