College Football Playoff expands to 24 teams from 2027

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 9 Nov, 23:44 · Archive

The College Football Playoff will expand to 24 teams starting in 2027 under a five-year ESPN deal worth $1.7 billion.

The College Football Playoff will expand to 24 teams starting in 2027, replacing the current 12-team format that began three years ago. ESPN agreed to rework its existing contract to add the 11 new games, with the additional deal valued at $1.7 billion over five years on top of the $7.8 billion contract already running through 2031.

The expansion will eliminate conference championship games for the Power Four conferences, ending a three-decade era of those events. ESPN's deal includes paying for the cancellation of these games, which the Guardian Sport reports were worth an estimated $345 million. ESPN will not be on the hook for $140 million of the extra money due to the title games' cancellation, according to the network.

The new 24-team format will feature five automatic qualifiers: the four Power Four conference champions and the highest-ranked team from the Group of Six smaller conferences. The other 19 spots will be filled by a selection panel. The top eight seeds will receive first-round byes, with the playoff starting the second weekend in December and the first two rounds played on campus. The traditional Army-Navy game will move to the first weekend in December, which previously hosted conference title games.

Notre Dame will no longer receive guarantees under the new format, unlike in this final year of the 12-team playoff when the university receives a bid if ranked in the top 12. The CFP selection committee plans to continue ranking its top 25 teams with inclusion in mind and is considering expanding its weekly rankings to 30 teams to show which programmes are on the bubble.

How it is being reported

• CFP expanding to 24 teams, big conference title games eliminated in $1.7 billion ESPN dealThe CFP is only getting bigger.New York Post · 9 Nov, 19:59
• College Football Playoff will double in size to 24 teams starting next yearPower Four conference title games to be eliminated Five teams will auto-qualify with rest picked by panel The College Football Playoff will double in size to 24 teams beginning next year, bringing an end to a three-decade era of conference title games that used to be among the marquee events of the season. College leaders announced the new format Monday, after ESPN agreed to rework its contract to add the 11 new games. Terms were not announced, though ESPN said it was a deal for five years and an additional $1.7bn, on top of the $7.8bn contract that runs through the 2031 season. Continue…Guardian Sport · 9 Nov, 17:08
• College football sells another piece of its soul with CFP officially expanding to 24 teamsThe College Football Playoff expands to 24 teams under a five-year ESPN deal worth nearly $1.7 billion, ending conference championship games.Fox News · 9 Nov, 16:47

In this story: College Football Playoff · ESPN · Big Ten · SEC · ACC · Big 12 · Group of Six · Notre Dame

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log