College Football Playoff Doubles to 24 Teams Starting Next Season
The College Football Playoff is doubling in size. On Monday, Nov. 9, the CFP Management Committee, made up of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame's athletic director, unanimously approved expanding the field from 12 to 24 teams starting with the 2027-28 season. The decision comes with a new media rights agreement that makes ESPN the exclusive worldwide rights holder of the expanded playoff through 2031-32, a deal worth close to $1.7 billion according to ESPN. The new format comes at a price: Power 4 conference championship games are going away.
A 24-team field with five automatic bids
The field will include the champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, along with the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, the MAC, the Mountain West, the Pac-12 or the Sun Belt. The other 19 spots go to the highest-ranked remaining teams in the selection committee's final rankings.
The bracket follows the logic of the current format. The top eight seeds earn a first-round bye and host a second-round game on campus. Seeds 9 through 16 host first-round games, while seeds 17 through 24 go on the road. In all, 16 of the 23 playoff games will be played on campus, compared with four in the 12-team format.
The quarterfinals and semifinals stay at the six CFP bowl partners: the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose and Sugar bowls. The first 24-team national championship game is set for Jan. 24, 2028, in New Orleans, followed by Tampa Bay on Jan. 22, 2029.
A calendar turned upside down
Fitting in 11 more games means reshuffling the season. The first round is expected to begin in the first week of December, and the regular season should kick off a week earlier. The CFP has promised that no playoff game will go head-to-head with Army-Navy.
The committee also adopted new scheduling standards meant to push programs toward tougher non-conference games. One example: the selection committee will give no weight to more than one win over an FCS opponent per season.
From stalemate to a unanimous vote
The playoff began with four teams in 2014 and kept that format for a decade before moving to 12 teams in 2024. Last January, the Big Ten and the SEC could not agree on what came next. The Big Ten wanted 24 teams, the SEC preferred a smaller field, and the CFP kept the 12-team bracket for 2026-27.
The tide turned this fall. The ACC, the Big 12 and Notre Dame came around to the Big Ten's position, the CFP opened talks with ESPN on Sept. 8, and ESPN's Pete Thamel reported on Oct. 15 that a deal was close. Monday made it official. CFP executive director Rich Clark promised to make the new format "spectacular" for fans, players and schools.
More access, less meaning?
Supporters of expansion say a bigger field gives more programs, more players and more fan bases a real shot at a national title, while bringing more big games to campus stadiums.
Critics see it differently. They argue there are not 24 teams capable of winning a championship, that the regular season and the bowls lose some of their meaning, and that giving up conference title games is a steep price to pay.
What's next
Nothing changes this season. The 2026-27 playoff will still be played under the 12-team format, with the national championship game in Las Vegas on Jan. 25, 2027. The playoff will then stay at 24 teams for the length of the new agreement, through 2031-32.
