Playoff Expands to 24 Teams

The College Football Playoff will double its size to 24 teams starting next season.

The expansion begins in the 2027 season. Currently, the format includes 12 teams. The previous iteration allowed only four teams to compete for the national championship. Before that, a committee selected the winner through polling.

Five teams will earn automatic bids under the new rules. The winners of the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC will advance directly. A top-ranked team from a mid-major conference will secure the fifth spot. A selection committee will choose the remaining 19 teams. Most of these selections will likely come from the four major conferences.

The new format requires a first-round game for the bottom 16 teams. The top eight ranked teams will receive a bye. To fit these extra games into the schedule, the four power conferences have agreed to end their conference championship games. These games have been a staple of the fall season for the last two or three decades.

NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan noted that the change allows teams with three or four regular-season losses to still compete for a title. She described this as a new era for the sport. The shift moves focus further from the regular season, where every game previously carried weight for title hopes.

Financial factors drive the expansion. ESPN will reportedly pay hundreds of millions of dollars more each season for the added games. This comes on top of a contract worth over a billion dollars signed a few years ago. School expenses have risen sharply in recent decades. Costs include player payments, coaching salaries, staff sizes, facilities, and travel. Schools have had to raise millions annually from alumni and donors to cover these costs.

TV ratings for college football dropped by about 6% overall this year. Some networks saw declines of more than 10 percent. Attendance figures have also drawn concern. The expanded playoff aims to sustain fan interest and justify the rising costs for donors.