4 more teams will soon be part of the FCS tournament, as the Football Championship series eyes an expansion in 2013, according to ESPN.

The change will allow the Pioneer League to have an automatic bid, and grant 3 extra at-large bids. Also 8 ranked seeds will get bye games and host the 2nd round.

The impact of this move is rather minimal, and it’s likely that many years the OVC won’t be a beneficiary it. Expanding the field by 3 is nice, but it’s rare that a team is that close to being in the tournament, and not in the tournament as the OVC auto bid. Last year was a rarity to see two teams make the tournament, although under this new rule, we might see it more in the future. Just don’t expect the new rule to automatically make the OVC a 2-bid league every year.

There was also some talk of altering the playoffs structure, such as seeding all 24 teams, or playing the semifinals and finals on a neutral field. Both those ideas failed.

One note from the article:

The proposal would give an automatic bid to all FCS leagues that want one

Why the Ivy and Southwestern Leagues don’t want their teams to enter the FCS playoffs is beyond me.