Expansion has been a major topic of discussion when it comes to the College Football Playoff. That’s been the case for a few years now, but it’s really picked up steam since the conclusion of the 2020 season.

More than ever, there seems to be momentum building for the College Football Playoff to expand from four teams to create a more inclusive field. The standard thought has been to increase the total to eight teams, though a 12- and 16-team field have also been discussed as possible option.

New ACC commissioner Jim Phillips wants to pump the breaks on the expansion discussion, though. The former Northwestern athletic director — who saw the B1G omitted from the field in 2017 and 2018 — wants to have a conversation before rushing to a decision.

“Here is what I would say about expansion, and I’m not against it,” Phillips told ESPN. “I want to have the conversation, and I want to do it really thoughtfully. I don’t want to just rush into, ‘Yes, we have to expand.’ I want to know more, and I think others deserve to know more before we make a sizable decision. But what does that look like? How many more games is that? Is that one more game for two teams? What does that do from a student-athlete perspective? How does it affect our calendar academically? How does it affect our calendar with regular season? Are we playing too many games? If you count nonconference, conference and then into the CFP and or bowl system.

“The bowl system, it’s worth saving. That’s something we can’t turn a blind eye to — it’s not just four, six or eight or whatever the playoff would look like. It is about we have a responsibility to the greater good of college football, and those bowl experiences are really important to the campuses across the NCAA that play FBS football.”

A common complaint among expansion enthusiasts is that the sport has become too boring, particularly the postseason. A handful of teams — Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Notre Dame — have risen to the top of the college football world and often make up some combination of the four-team field.

While there’s no guarantee an expanded field would change the end result, it might provide a more entertaining product, put more teams in the national championship race and potentially limit the number of players opting out of the postseason.

It seems inevitable that expansion will happen. It’s only a matter of when and how many teams are included.