The College Football Playoff will double in size from 12 to 24 teams beginning with the 2027-28 season, the CFP announced on Monday, in a landmark expansion that also brings an end to the era of Power Four conference championship games.
The CFP Management Committee unanimously approved the expansion on November 9, alongside a new media rights agreement making ESPN the exclusive worldwide rightsholder for the expanded playoff through the 2031-32 season. ESPN will pay nearly $1.7 billion in the new five-year deal, on top of its existing $7.8 billion contract, according to ESPN's reporting; the CFP itself did not disclose financial terms.
The 24-team field will be made up of the four Power Four conference champions — from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC — plus the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt, and the 19 highest-ranked remaining teams in the final selection committee rankings. Notre Dame receives no automatic bid.
The top eight seeds will receive first-round byes and host second-round games on campus. Seeds 9 through 16 will host first-round games against seeds 17 through 24. In all, 16 of the 23 playoff games will be played on college campuses, up from four under the current format. The quarterfinals and semifinals will then be played among the six bowl partners: the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls.
The 2027-28 regular season will end on Saturday, November 27, 2027, with the playoff beginning the first full week of December, and no playoff games will conflict with the Army-Navy game. The first championship game under the expanded format is set for Monday, January 24, 2028, in New Orleans. The current 2026-27 season will be played under the 12-team format, with its title game in Las Vegas on January 25, 2027.
It is the second expansion since the playoff began in 2014 as a four-team event; the field grew to 12 teams in 2024. CFP executive director Rich Clark said the new format would deliver "23 games of Playoff football, featuring 24 ranked teams going head-to-head for the right to be crowned the true national champion."
