Joel Klatt: CFP ‘powers-that-be have made the wrong choice in almost every single instance’

Joel Klatt is out for blood.

Fresh off slamming College Football Playoff leadership for selling exclusive broadcast rights to the entire tournament to ESPN, the Fox Sports analyst is now taking aim at the CFP committee and the entire fabric of the postseason.

In an appearance on The Next Round podcast on Monday, Klatt continued his teardown of CFP leadership, claiming that the people in charge have botched every single element of the postseason outside of expanding it from four to 12 teams.

“In the decision-making process with this College Football Playoff, the powers-that-be have made the wrong choice in almost every single instance,” Klatt said.

The conversation began after Klatt said he wished top-seeded teams could host games, arguing that Texas Tech and Ohio State would have performed differently if they were rewarded by playing on their home fields.

Klatt then listed off the structure of the Playoff, the schedule, and the broadcasting setup all as major mistakes by CFP officials.

The Big Noon Saturday game analyst believes the championship game should be played on New Year’s Day, which would shrink the breaks between games and allow teams to transition to the coaching carousel and transfer portal. Klatt also wants the seeding to more closely resemble the overall standings, with several automatic bids per conference and fewer at-large spots. And Klatt wants to give homefield advantage to the top seed throughout the Playoff, while reseeding after each round.

However, Klatt revealed that he has heard the committee won’t reseed because it imagines fans filling out a bracket, a la March Madness.

“That was the explanation that I got when I asked some of the people in the room,” Klatt said. “Who’s filling out a bracket? What are we doing?”

Of course, Klatt also harped once again on ESPN’s control over all the game broadcasts. While Klatt would certainly stand to benefit professionally if Fox got rights to a game or two in the tournament, he believes it would be better overall for the sport if other networks were involved in the presentation of the CFP.

“That’s what the NFL does and that’s obviously the best model,” Klatt sadi. “You’d have all A-level broadcasts, and not what we get right now. It’s not a knock, just kind of the truth.”

Perhaps Klatt does have a point that Wild Card Weekend generates more attention and excitement because multiple networks bring their top broadcasters, studio shows and top-down coverage to the games. Whereas the CFP runs through the same ESPN announcers week after week, year after year.

And maybe Klatt has some points about the scheduling and format of the bracket. Voices like Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti and Oregon coach Dan Lanning have expressed similar views.

However, with viewership strong and interest in college football arguably at an all-time high at the national level, leadership is unlikely to acquiesce to Klatt’s suggestions or anyone else’s.