College football appears to be moving closer to another major playoff expansion, and plenty of fans are not happy about it.

The College Football Playoff could grow from 12 to 24 teams as soon as the 2027 season, ESPN reported Thursday. Nothing is final yet, but talks have moved far enough that the debate has shifted from whether expansion is possible to what it could do to the sport. ESPN reported in June that most discussions among CFP leaders were focused on a 24-team model.

The biggest complaint is simple: Would regular-season games still mean as much?

NFL reporter Albert Breer offered one of the stronger reactions after reports of the potential expansion surfaced. “I legitimately don’t know one college football fan who is favor of this,” he wrote, calling the idea “absolutely horrible.”

Kevin Clark took aim at what a bigger playoff could mean for Saturdays in the fall. “Sacrificed the best regular season in sports so that 8-4 Big Ten teams can lose by 13. Awesome stuff,” he wrote.

Josh Pate made a similar argument. “Good teams with flawed resumes missing out isn’t a bug,” he wrote. “It’s a feature of a properly-sized CFP that balances access & urgency.”

Those concerns appear to be shared by many fans. A survey from The Athletic found 70% opposed expansion to 24 teams, while 30% supported it.

There is another side to the argument.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has argued that more teams deserve an opportunity. “I’ve said it before, more access is needed as too many great teams are still left out,” Yormark said. He also acknowledged that officials still must work through the financial, scheduling and other possible consequences.

The SEC may also be warming to the idea. Commissioner Greg Sankey said this week, “I think there’s an openness to playoff expansion on our part.” He added that a decision could come “probably sooner rather than later.”

That represents an important change in the conversation. Sankey was still stressing caution in July, saying, “We are focused on finding the right path for college football.” He specifically raised the question of how officials could “preserve and build the value of the regular season.”

CFP executive director Rich Clark has acknowledged just how complicated the change could be. After meetings about expansion in June, he told ESPN, “Every time we gave an answer, two or three more questions would pop out of that.”

So, more teams would get a chance to chase a championship. But many fans and analysts wonder what college football would give up to make that happen.