Big news from English football: the Championship play-offs are expanding from four teams to six. And it wasn't even close in the voting. Only Tranmere Rovers voted against it, with the final tally at 67-1 with one abstention.
To be fair, Tranmere probably had other things on their mind. They've lost 10 of their last 11 League Two games and just sacked their manager. Not exactly the time to be thinking about promotion play-offs.
But the proposal sailed through anyway. It needed 13 Championship votes and 37 overall votes to pass. It got unanimous support from Championship clubs and nearly everyone else backed it too.
Preston North End chief executive Peter Ridsdale dusted off an old 2003 idea and brought it back to the table in September. His pitch was simple: more meaningful games at the end of the season, more excitement for fans, and more big matches to sell to TV broadcasters.
Why Everyone Loves Play-Offs (Except Tranmere)
Look around sports and you'll see play-offs everywhere are getting bigger. The NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Soccer have all expanded their post-seasons in recent years. Even Major League Baseball added more teams. It's the trend that won't stop.
Several Championship executives spoke off the record about why they supported the change. One big reason? They're tired of watching relegated Premier League clubs bounce straight back up using their parachute payments. Expanding the play-offs gives more non-parachute clubs a chance at promotion.
"It will mean more excitement right to the end of the season and fewer meaningless games," one executive said. Another called it a way to keep hope alive for more clubs deeper into the season.
For bettors, this changes everything about late-season Championship markets. Teams finishing sixth, seventh, or eighth now have a genuine shot at promotion, which means the race for play-off spots stays interesting much longer. That eighth-placed team could end up in the Premier League.
How the New Format Works
The Championship is keeping its two-leg semi-finals, with the higher seed getting the second leg at home. That's different from the National League, which uses single-leg quarters and semis.
Here's a clever twist suggested by Coventry City owner Doug King: the team finishing third gets to play the lowest-ranked team that makes the semi-finals. That's a nice reward for finishing higher in the table.
Will a seventh or eighth-placed team actually win promotion? History says probably not. The last sixth-placed team to go up from the Championship was Blackpool way back in 2010. In the National League, which has used six teams since 2018, only one sixth-placed team has ever made it.
But that's the beauty of play-offs, isn't it? There's always a chance. Derby County currently sits eighth, and while they'd probably struggle in the Premier League, stranger things have happened in knockout football.
What's next? Expect League One and League Two to expand their play-offs soon too. The EFL will probably wait until after 2029 when the current media rights deal ends. Once you add elimination rounds, there's no going back. Welcome to the future of Championship drama.
