The College Football Playoff Is Expanding To 24 Teams: Here’s What You Need To Know

It had never been harder to win a national championship in college football than now. It just got more difficult. The College Football Playoff will officially expand to include 24 teams, up from the current 12, beginning in the 2027 season, the CFP announced Monday. The playoff debuted in the 2014-15 season with four teams, and it expanded to 12 teams for the 2024-25 season. And now, we’re up to 24 teams. Here’s everything to know about the CFP’s new 24-team format. What Will The Format Look Like? The bracket will feature 23 at-large bids and one guaranteed spot for the Group of Six. There will be a total of 23 games, with 16 of those games being on college campuses. The teams seeded nine-to-24 will play in the first round with the higher seed hosting the lower seed on its campus, while seeds 1-to-8 receive a first-round bye. The second round will include eight games, in which the teams seeded 1-to-8 host the lower seed on its campus. The New Years Six bowl games — Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl — will be integrated into the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. This year’s CFP national championship will be held in Las Vegas on January 25, 2027. What Is Happening To Conference Title Games? Conference title games are being erased and replaced with the first round of the College Football Playoff, On3 reported. 2027 will mark the first year since 1992 when there won’t be an SEC championship game. Other conferences instituted a conference title game throughout the late 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. Those will all be gone. Like before, conference champions will be determined by regular-season standings and tie-breakers. Per FOX Sports’ Ben Portnoy, the Group of Six conferences are still undetermined if they will eliminate their conference title games. Conference champions will not receive a boost in the CFP bracket like they did in 2024. Seeding will be determined by the committee’s chronological rankings. One more caveat is that the week that used to host conference championship games will be an off week when Army and Navy play their yearly game. What Is The History Behind Expansion To A 24-Team Playoff? Continued expansion of the postseason tournament that, in 2024, expanded from four teams to 12, had been anticipated for years. Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti was the first to propose the idea of a 24-team playoff to give more teams hope and belief that they could make a postseason run, and add more parody to college football. Since then, conferences such as the Big 12 and ACC, and independent Notre Dame, supported the idea after initial skepticism. The SEC was the last to get on board. The decision came to a head in recent weeks as the CFP and broadcasting partner ESPN’s contract neared their October 9 negotiation deadline. That deadline was then extended to Friday, Oct. 16, and on Nov. 9, the two sides came to an agreement. The tournament will expand to 24 teams and ESPN will broadcast the additional games.