The College Football Playoff (CFP) will be expanding to 24 teams, starting in the 2027-2028 college football season.
On Monday, the CFP Management Committee announced it unanimously approved expanding the playoff system from its current 12-team format.
“The decision to expand was driven by a desire to increase opportunities for FBS programs, student-athletes and fan bases to participate in the Playoff and have a chance to play for the CFP National Championship, while new scheduling standards incentivize institutions to schedule more compelling non-conference matchups during the regular season,” the CFP said.
The committee has reached a new media rights deal with ESPN to televise the 12 extra playoff games, beginning next college football season.
According to ESPN, the deal is worth almost $1.7 billion over five years, running through the 2031-2032 college football season.
ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said the sports network and CFP “have worked collaboratively for more than a decade to make the CFP one of the marquee events in all of sports, and we remain firmly committed to elevating it in its new, expanded 24-team format.”
“We value the trust that the CFP has placed in us as its exclusive media partner, and our continued presentation of this premier championship further solidifies ESPN as the home of college football and the destination for college sports for years to come,” he explained.
Rich Clark, CFP executive director, said the CFP will make the expanded college playoff format
“spectacular for the fans, student-athletes, their institutions and all our stakeholders. That is our commitment.”
“Our organization delivers a world-class championship experience at our games and our events, and this promise will continue under the new format,” he added.
The new playoff format will feature the conference champions of the Power Four conferences: ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC; the highest-ranked team from the non-power conferences; and the 19 highest-ranked remaining teams in the final CFP ranking.
The committee said conferences can decide whether to keep playing conference championship games, but ESPN reported that Power Four conference championship games will be eliminated.
The CFP Management Committee noted that 16 of the 23 playoff games will be played on campus.
The CFP will continue to use the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl, also known as the New Year’s Six bowls, for quarterfinals and semifinals games.
Under this format, the top eight seeds will receive a first-round bye and host a playoff game on campus. Seeds 9-16 will host games against seeds 17-24 on their campuses.
The regular season will end on Saturday, November 27th, 2027, with college football playoff games beginning the first week of December. This means teams not in the top 8 will have one week off before their first playoff game.
Teams in the top eight will have two weeks off.
The national championship game will occur on January 24, 2028.
The annual Army-Navy game will not be affected by the new playoff format.
With the expansion, the CFP Management Committee has adopted new scheduling standards.
Teams from Power Four conferences are expected to play at least 10 qualifying regular-season games, including conference games or games against other Power Four teams or Notre Dame.
Teams outside the Power Four conferences are also expected to play at least 10 qualifying regular-season games against conference members or other teams outside the Power Four, excluding Notre Dame.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
