News broke this week that the College Football Playoff is officially close to wrapping up negotiations to double the size of the field, expanding it from 12 to 24 teams despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of the fanbase does not want this to happen.

Of course, the folks making the decisions in college football — nameless faces who will never be forced to answer for these crimes — simply do not care what the fans of the sport want. They see the College Football Playoff as an unlimited ATM, and however that ATM can increase the bottom line of television deals, advertising and everything in between, that is the approach they will take.

They do not care about — or are even aware of — what makes college football the greatest sport on earth. It’s this fact that this will not only alienate current fans but drive away future fans. They do not care that college football is unique from every other sport precisely because the regular season games matter so much, they only see unlimited profits in the next step of likely further expansion in the future.

Their belief is that the diehard fans will watch no matter what, and while they may be correct in the short term, there will absolutely be ramifications here in the long run that go beyond television ratings and fan attendance.

Of all the major changes in college athletics over the last decade, every Saturday in the fall still felt the same. This is the first time where it has felt like that is being put at risk.

Take this past weekend’s game between Alabama and Georgia for example. That game and the environment it created at Bryant-Denny Stadium felt how it did not just because of two great brands getting together, but also the winner being propelled while the loser has their backs placed against the wall.

The Kick Six and Fourth and 31 are iconic plays not just because they won rivalry games between two hated schools, they had massive implications on the results of a team’s season as well. That is just not going to be the case anymore.

In this new format, SEC and Big 10 teams with records of 8-4 will be in the field, and slowly but surely, the results of these big time conference matchups will start to matter less and less each year.

These games feel the way they do because this sport is do or die every single week, and they just took that away from you. They did not do it for the good of the game, they did it for the good of their own pockets.

Folks are furious, but those with their hands on the wheel either won’t hear it, or even if they do, will disregard it entirely.

What this means for the future of college football cannot be known exactly right now, but as has been the case with everything else over the last few years, once again the fans are left holding the bag for foolish, greedy and outright selfish decision makers who could not care less what they think.