The College Football Playoff has announced that it is expanding to 24 teams beginning next year. The field will consist of conference champions from the Power 4 conferences inccluding the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC and the highest-ranked team from the Group of 6 comprising of the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, and Sun Belt. From there, the 19-highest ranked remaining teams from any league in the final CFP rankings will make the tournament. The top eight seeds will receiving a bye in the first round of the playoffs and will host a second-round game. Seeds from No. 9 to No. 16 will host a first-round game. There will now be 16 on-campus games in the format, up from four currently in the 12-team field. The season begins with ‘Week Zero’ the week before Labor Day and ends on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Of note, Notre Dame will not be guaranteed a spot unless it is ranked high-enough to earn an at-large bid.
The New Year’s Six bowls aren’t changing and will continue to host the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds and the national championship will still be contested in January. Conference championship games will be abolished as part of the plan and there will be a week off after the regular season during which the Army-Navy game will be played. That game will not count toward the CFP standings. The playoff also announced a five-year deal with ESPN to broadcast the entirety of the event for $1.7 billion, though ESPN will have the option to sublicense six of the new first-round games of the package. Quarterfinals for next year are set for Friday, December 31, 2027 and Saturday, Jan. 1, 2028.
