“So, it’s four or 12.”

As someone who is not a fan of playoff expansion, the thought that the people running the sport may be just petty enough to let their personal feelings stop the contemplated move to a 12-team playoff fills me with a certain glee.

It is the latest and maybe the most important chapter in a somewhat contentious and frustrating saga that’s existed since June, when a subcommittee of conference commissioners announced a 12-team playoff format that at first drew overwhelming praise but has recently faced pushback from their colleagues.

Commissioners enter the meetings having either resolved or have deemed resolvable some of the issues explored in this story from September, including the Rose Bowl, media rights partners and on-campus games. However, more obstacles stand in the way: As many as three league executives, most notably the ACC, prefer an eight-team format.

“What’s holding us up is the eight versus 12,” says one source.

Be still, my heart.  I mean, they really can’t be that egregiously moronic, can they?

Apparently, the possibility exists.

Twelve teams tripled the field. It was all-inclusive. Then suddenly, after a few conferences got their feelings hurt, it wasn’t.

What’s become obvious over the last few months is that it’s either four or 12. There is no in-between.

“We will end up staying at four,” a person intimately involved in the talks told CBS Sports over the weekend.

The math is actually very simple.  The vote to expand the playoffs has to be unanimous, so any conference or Notre Dame has veto power over any given proposal, which is why an 8-team proposal is DOA.

However, there exists a deep divide on each of the two eight-team models. Group of 5 commissioners say they will not vote for an eight-team format that does not grant them an automatic berth into the field—a “Best 8,” as it’s known. Meanwhile, several commissioners, including the SEC’s Greg Sankey, are against an eight-team model that provides six automatic qualifiers to conference champions and two at-large spots—a “6+2” format that they believe would leave out worthy schools.

Including Notre Dame, which makes them another veto point.  Expanding the overall field while shrinking the number of at-large teams is a solution only a conference that’s jealous of the SEC could love.  Sankey is better off with the status quo, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that.

That’s not all, though.  There’s one other math problem with the eight-team format.

Passing on expansion to 12 would be eschewing millions. A 12-team playoff in 2024 and ’25 would bring in a combined $450 million in additional television revenue, sources tell Sports Illustrated. An eight-team expansion would not generate any additional revenue because it does not create more inventory.  [Emphasis added.]

Again, I ask:  these people can’t really be that stupid, can they?  One can only hope.