The College Football Playoff is set to expand from its current 12-school format to include 24 teams next season, according to a bombshell report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
An announcement is reportedly expected in the near future. The Daily Mail has sought comment from CFP officials.
The current 12-team format only just began in 2024 – a decade after the four-school CFP was created to replace the outdated and unpopular Bowl Championship Series.
Commissioners of the Power Four conferences failed to come to a similar agreement back in January, when talks on a 16- or 24-team playoff for the current 2026 season were abandoned. This time, however, the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Big 12 Conference appear to have reached an agreement to double the size of the postseason.
The playoff expansion could add untold billions in media revenue, not just for the postseason, but the regular season as well.
‘You tell advertisers that if you want to be in our Playoff inventory, you have to take some of the regular season and you sell it as a package,’ Patrick Crakes, a media consultant and former Fox Sports senior vice president, told The Athletic back in August. ‘[Fox] can use that, and Big Noon will get more exposure in the postseason.’
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) lifts the trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium
But while power conferences see an easy way to raise revenue, they risk diminishing the value of the regular season – a traditional strength for college football.
Full details of the new format have yet to be revealed, but some specifics have surfaced.
In addition to 19 at-large bids, the 24-team format would also include an auto bid for each of the Power Four conference champions, according to On3’s Pete Nakos, who has been told more of the games would be played on campus as opposed to neutral sites.
As for the Group of Six conferences – a sextet that includes the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference USA (CUSA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference, Pac-12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference – they will continue to be represented by at least one school. According to Nakos, the Group of Six will send its top-performing team to the 24-school CFP.
