While we've been locked in the college hoops portal, college football power brokers met Wednesday and it looks like playoff expansion is coming.

The question is, how many.

As has been the case for a while, it looks like SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is pushing for 16 - while Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti is pushing for more.

Via Ross Dellenger, who was on the scene for Yahoo Sports:

The CFP’s annual two-day spring meetings here this week produced, as expected, no decision on a future format.

But, perhaps for the first time, the gathering paved the way for a more intense holistic examination and financial evaluation of a 24-team postseason — support for which emerged last week during a presidential committee call that involved several high-profile CFP decision-makers.

However, there is one person who continues to support a 16-team field: SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who as meetings wrapped up here Wednesday re-emphasized his past comments about expansion and outlined potential issues with any 24-team format.

As you can guess, a bump to 24 teams comes with the ultimate question: How much more money could it actually produce, with the current playoff contract guaranteeing $1.3 billion annually.

There are other variables as well, such as the calendar (which is already in conflict with the NFL), what to do with conference championship games and much more.

The working group looking at playoff expansion will next meet in June, with any final decision for the 2027 playoff needed by December 1st.

It’s safe to say we’re going beyond 12 teams - the question is how many?

It was a busy day at Alabama, where details of contract extensions for football coach Kalen Deboer and basketball coach Nate Oats became public.

Starting with Deboer, he now has a seven-year deal that will pay him $12.5 million annually. That may sound like a lot of money for a coach that part of the Crimson Tide fan-base is unhappy with. But remember Deboer was reportedly pursued by both Penn State and Michigan last off-season and will clearly have options beyond Tuscaloosa.

It’s the same for Nate Oats, who will now make $7.2 million a year - after leading Alabama to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year, and fifth time in six seasons.

The big number to note on Oats: His buyout if another team wants to hire him jumps to $15 million, which then falls to “only” $12 million on April 1, 2027.

In other words, if anyone else wants to hire him (cough, Kentucky, cough) it’s going to cost them a pretty penny.

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