College Football Playoff Makes Historic Move Toward 24-Team Field Starting in 2027

The College Football Playoff is nearing a deal to double its field to 24 teams beginning in 2027, a move that would wipe out Power 4 conference championship games and push the season’s opening weekend up by a week.

ESPN insider Pete Thamel reported Thursday that the new format is expected to come together in the near future, pending final approvals. ESPN is finalizing a deal to purchase the additional games through the 2031 season, when its current six-year, $7.8 billion contract expires.

How would the 24-team bracket work?

Final details haven’t been announced, but discussions have centered on 19 at-large bids, the four Power 4 champions as determined by each league and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team.

Seeds No. 1 through 8 would earn a first-round bye followed by a home game. Seeds No. 9 through 16 would host first-round games, so the No. 1 seed would face the winner of a No. 16 vs. No. 17 matchup. The New Year’s Six bowls would still host the quarterfinals and semifinals, and the national title game would remain in January.

That structure turns the No. 8 line into the most valuable spot in the rankings. A No. 9 seed has to win an extra game to earn what a No. 8 seed gets automatically, so a late November loss could cost a contender an entire round of rest.

Big Ten wins the expansion fight

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has pushed for 24 teams for more than a year, while the SEC preferred 16 before softening its stance. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey opened the door in late August with a memo to the management committee requiring power-conference teams to play 10 games against power-conference opponents or Notre Dame to be eligible. The Big Ten doesn’t have that requirement, but Petitti has said the league would adopt it with the SEC’s support.

Petitti has also rejected the argument that a bigger field cheapens the regular season, pointing to the teams that would be fighting for the final spots in November.

“The format creates all kinds of incentives,” Petitti said in July. “If you think about a 24-team playoff, right, a bunch of teams are going to be ranked between 16 and 24 that are just trying to make sure they’re in.”

The bigger bracket also creates room for the deep pools of Big Ten and SEC contenders such as Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia and Alabama, plus the bubble teams trailing them in each league.

What could still delay 2027?

Power 4 title games are valued around $200 million, and conference leaders wanted assurance of a new revenue stream north of that figure before giving them up. ESPN and the CFP opened a 30-day exclusive negotiating window Sept. 9, and talks continued after it closed Oct. 9.

The CFP also faces a Dec. 1 deadline to approve format changes for the 2027-28 season.

“I think there’s a good probability that we could be ready to do it next season,” College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark said Oct. 1.

If the logistics can’t be finished in time, the 24-team bracket would wait until 2028 at the earliest. The Army-Navy game, traditionally played the second Saturday of December, falls on the same weekend the playoff would begin, and preliminary discussions have included moving it to the first Saturday of December.