Home · Sports · Nov 9 archive
College Football Playoff to Expand to 24 Teams in 2027
Confirmed
In Short: The College Football Playoff and ESPN have signed a five-year deal worth nearly $1.7 billion to expand the field to 24 teams starting in 2027.
College football playoff expanding to 24 teams. WTHR
The College Football Playoff (CFP) and ESPN have signed a five-year deal worth nearly $1.7 billion to expand the field to 24 teams starting in 2027, ESPN announced Monday.
This expansion will take effect in the 2027 season, just two years after the current 12-team format was introduced.
Under the new format, the top eight teams will receive first-round byes, and the first two rounds of games will be held on the campus of the higher seed.
The CFP's official announcement on Monday confirmed the expansion, which will bring Playoff football to more campuses and local fans.
The expanded format is expected to feature 16 on-campus Playoff games, providing a positive impact for campus communities.
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr, the AP national player of the week, expressed support for the idea of expanding the playoff.
Coach Curt Cignetti acknowledged the disappointment of teams still feeling the national championship hangover but emphasized that he could not change the situation.
The new format will bring significant changes to the college football landscape, with the exact impact on the sport remaining to be seen.
The 2026 College Football Playoff will continue to feature 12 teams, with the expansion taking effect in 2027.
What this adds
The expansion is expected to bring more teams into the playoff, potentially altering the competitive landscape of college football.
Background
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament held to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of college football competition in the United States. It culminates in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
What's confirmed
- The College Football Playoff will expand to 24 teams beginning with the 2027 season, ESPN's Heather Dinich reported Monday.
What's still developing
- The CFP has agreed to a five-year, nearly $1.7 billion media rights deal that paves the way for the bracket to grow to 24 teams in 2027, and Power Four conference championships are being eliminated, On3’s Pete Nakos reported.
- How to think about where CFB’s best teams stand ahead of the second playoff rankings release.
- What this means for the sport moving forward remains to be seen, but this is another massive change during what has felt like a lifetime’s worth of them in just the last half decade alone in college football.
- With the majority of the Week 8 slate wrapped up, the Chicago Bears are currently in the NFL playoff picture despite not leading their division.
- At some point those roles flip and an actual football game takes over.
- All in all, we can enjoy a Sunday without the disappointment of Cowboys football.
- Though the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans each qualified for the postseason last year after losing their first two games, only 35 of 288 teams since 1990 had recovered from an 0-2 start to make the playoffs prior to the 2025 season, according to the NFL.
- On a day of carnage and drama for top-10 teams, No.
- The Tennessee Vols came in at No. 21 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, which were revealed on Tuesday night, despite their 28 point loss to the Georgia Bulldogs this past weekend.
- The undefeated teams are protecting their place in the College Football Playoff race, preseason contenders are trying to recover before it's too late and several conference matchups could reshape the picture entirely.