IRVING, Texas — The College Football Playoff is about to get significantly bigger, with more teams, more games and more opportunities for schools across the country to compete for a national championship.
The College Football Playoff Management Committee unanimously approved an expansion from 12 to 24 teams Monday, beginning with the 2027 season, while announcing a new media rights agreement that will keep ESPN as the exclusive worldwide television partner for the expanded postseason through the 2031-32 season.
The new format will feature 23 playoff games, including 16 played on college campuses, a dramatic increase from the four on-campus games under the current 12-team system. The expansion will also create additional opportunities for programs outside the four major conferences to compete for a national championship.
CFP executive director Rich Clark said during a media teleconference Monday that the decision followed extensive discussions involving conference commissioners, university presidents, television executives and other stakeholders.
"At its core the decision was driven by a desire to increase opportunities for FBS programs, student-athletes and fan bases to participate in the Playoff and have a chance to play for the CFP national championship," Clark said. "Simply put, more opportunity."
Under the new format, the champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC will receive automatic bids, along with the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt conferences. The remaining 19 spots will be awarded to the highest-ranked teams in the final CFP selection committee rankings.
The expansion represents a significant change for programs such as Boise State, UNLV, San Diego State and Hawaii, which will have additional opportunities to earn at-large bids even if they do not secure the automatic berth reserved for the highest-ranked Group of Six team.
Clark emphasized that the automatic qualifier from those six conferences does not necessarily have to win its conference championship.
"It's actually the highest ranked G6 team," Clark said. "Regardless whether a conference champion or not, it's only the highest ranked. They would be seeded in accordance with wherever they were ranked in the final CFP ranking."
The 24-team format will give the top eight seeds first-round byes and the opportunity to host second-round games. Teams seeded ninth through 16th will host first-round games against teams seeded 17th through 24th.
Both the first and second rounds will be played on campuses, creating additional postseason home games and potentially significant economic benefits for college communities.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will continue to be played at the six traditional CFP bowl sites: the Rose, Fiesta, Cotton, Orange, Peach and Sugar bowls.
The national championship game for the first 24-team playoff will be played Jan. 24, 2028, in New Orleans, followed by the 2029 championship game in Tampa on Jan. 22.
Las Vegas will host the final national championship game under the 12-team format Jan. 25, 2027.
The expansion also comes with new scheduling standards intended to encourage more competitive regular-season matchups.
Schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC will be expected to play at least 10 qualifying games against opponents from those four conferences or Notre Dame, including conference games.
Schools from the other six FBS conferences will also be expected to play at least 10 qualifying games, although their eligible opponents will include other Group of Six programs and independent schools.
The CFP selection committee will not give additional weight to victories over more than one Football Championship Subdivision opponent per season.
Clark said the goal is to encourage schools to schedule more meaningful nonconference games rather than avoid difficult opponents to protect their postseason chances.
"We'll continue to look at that to make sure that teams understand that those marquee wins really do mean a lot, that if they have those games in their schedule, especially in their non-conference schedule, that it could benefit them to win one of those marquee games," Clark said.
The CFP will also preserve the traditional Army-Navy game by ensuring no playoff games conflict with the annual rivalry.
Beginning in 2027, the regular season will include two open weeks, with the first round of the playoff beginning during the first full week of December. The Heisman Trophy ceremony will move one week earlier, with the 2027 festivities scheduled for Dec. 3-5.
Notre Dame, which competes as an independent, will remain eligible for an at-large berth. Clark confirmed that the Fighting Irish would qualify if ranked among the top 24 teams in the final CFP rankings.
"In a 24-team format, though, if they're ranked anywhere in the top 24, they're in the Playoff," Clark said.
The expansion also strengthens ESPN's position as the dominant television partner in college football.
The network has carried the College Football Playoff since its inception and will now control the television rights to all 23 games under the expanded format, although it retains the ability to sublicense selected games to other networks.
ESPN will broadcast at least three games from each of the first two rounds on ABC, providing more playoff games on broadcast television.
Nick Dawson, ESPN's senior vice president of college sports programming and acquisitions, said the network believes the additional games will create more meaningful postseason opportunities without diminishing the importance of the regular season.
"Over the past dozen years the CFP has established itself as one of the most impactful events in American sports," Dawson said. "We believe this next iteration will only enhance its position as a cultural moment on the world's sporting calendar."
Dawson acknowledged that the expansion could create questions about the future of traditional bowl games, including the Las Vegas Bowl, which ESPN owns and operates.
"No decisions have been made at this time," Dawson said. "We were obviously waiting for this process to play itself out first, then we'll quickly kind of turn our attention to assessing what the rest of the college football post-season can look like moving forward."
He added that ESPN continues to believe there is a place for postseason games outside the national championship tournament.
The expanded playoff also raises questions about whether a larger field could reduce the significance of regular-season losses, particularly for traditional national championship contenders that might qualify with multiple defeats.
Dawson said ESPN considered those concerns but believes college football's relatively short regular season will continue to make individual games meaningful.
"I think time will tell, right?" Dawson said. "Ultimately, I think a lot of the responsibility here will ultimately fall back to the schools and coaches."
Clark also acknowledged that not every college football fan supports doubling the current playoff field.
"We're aware of the fan sentiment and that many fans aren't in favor of expansion," Clark said. "That was certainly weighed into the decision. It was considered."
Despite those concerns, Clark said the committee unanimously supported the move, including the new television agreement and the distribution of additional revenue. He confirmed that the percentages used to distribute revenue among the conferences will remain unchanged.
Financial terms of the new ESPN agreement were not disclosed.
For now, college football will complete one final postseason under the 12-team format before transitioning to a 24-team championship that will include nearly twice as many games and four times as many on-campus contests.
Clark said the responsibility now falls on the CFP to demonstrate that the expanded tournament can deliver the same excitement and significance as its predecessors.
"We owe it to them to make this great," Clark said of college football fans. "That really is our intent. We appreciate our fans. We did take into account their sentiment. That was rolled into this decision. But we decided to move forward with it."