Wetzels’ plan was basically “each team gets an equal share for every game they play in.” It sounds simple and fair, but it really makes for a big problem (in my opinion).

Wetzel’s plan (simplified): Let’s say a playoff has $450 million to distribute (he used $750 million in his example but I’m being conservative). In a 16-team playoff, that means 15 games, which means $30 million per game, which means $15 per team per game. It sound great, except what it essentially means is that if one - just ONE - play costs a team a game, whether it is a missed FG, a dropped pass, a blown call by an official, a missed coverage assignment, whatever - it’s a $15 million mistake. That’s a horrible idea and it places far too much undeserved pressure on everyone involved.

Realistically, I don’t think a playoff will be established without involving the bowls, and I’m also not convinced it could happen with all 11 FBS conferences receiving an automatic bid (unless there were at least 20 teams in the playoff, similar to the FCS tournament).

My idea is that yes, we should create a playoff with 16 teams (I don’t think a straight jump to 20 is possible). The eight best conference champions (regardless of conference) should make the playoff as automatic bids. After that, there would be eight at-large bids - no more than two per conference (in part to prevent biases from allowing one or two conferences to dominate) - to fill up the 16 spots. Another possibility is 9 automatic and 7 at-large (still with only two at-large per conference), but I think the 8 & 8 has a higher probability of being accepted by the “power” conferences.

Play the first round (the round of 16 with 8 games) entirely at the bowls in late December / early January. Allow the bowls to “bid” to be one of the eight locations for a 1st-round game (probably best to do this before the season starts and have selection priorities determined too). After that, rounds 2 & 3 (quarterfinals & semifinals) are at the higher-seeded team’s home. The championship game (college football’s “super bowl”) is at a neutral site. It would extend the season a bit but it would still be finished before the end of January.

It’s not perfect, but it is far FAR better than anything we have now.