College Football Playoff to Expand to 24 Teams in 2027 Under New ESPN Deal
The playoff will double from 12 teams to 24 starting with the 2027 season under a five-year ESPN agreement worth nearly $1.7 billion, and the Power Four conference championship games will end.
The College Football Playoff will expand from 12 teams to 24 beginning with the 2027 season under a five-year agreement with ESPN worth nearly $1.7 billion, the two sides said Monday. The deal ends the Power Four conference championship games, which have closed the regular season for decades.
The expanded field will include the champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt conferences, and the 19 highest-ranked remaining teams in the selection committee’s final ranking, according to the playoff’s release. The current season will stay at 12 teams, with the national championship game set for Jan. 25, 2027, in Las Vegas.
How the 24-team bracket will work
The top eight seeds will receive a first-round bye and host a second-round game on their campuses. Seeds 9 through 16 will host first-round games against seeds 17 through 24. The first two rounds will be played on college campuses, with the quarterfinals and semifinals moving to bowl sites. In all, 16 of the 23 playoff games will be played on campuses. The first title game under the new format is set for Jan. 24, 2028, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in New Orleans.
The playoff will begin in the first full week of December, and no playoff games will conflict with the Army-Navy game, according to the playoff’s release. ESPN will hold exclusive rights to the expanded playoff through the 2031-32 season and will continue to air the weekly rankings shows and the selection show. At least three first-round games and at least three second-round games will air on ABC.
Conference title games come to an end
The SEC said Monday it will end its championship game after this season. The game has been played since 1992. “The SEC Football Championship Game has been a defining event in college football for more than three decades,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. The Big Ten said its final championship game will be played Dec. 5 in Indianapolis.
The change has drawn criticism. Former Alabama coach Nick Saban said last week on the “New Heights” podcast that there are not 24 teams in the country that can win the national championship, and that the sport would give up the pride of winning a conference title for an extra game. “We will make the 24-team Playoff spectacular for the fans, student-athletes, their institutions and all our stakeholders,” playoff executive director Rich Clark said in a statement.
The playoff began with four teams in 2014 and grew to 12 in 2024. The new agreement is the second expansion in three years.
Reporting based on coverage by USA Today, ESPN and Fox Sports.
