CFP director says moving quarterfinals to campus sites could be under discussion
College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark on Saturday stated that organizers could explore the possibility of moving quarterfinal games from neutral bowl sites to campus sites.
With the 2024-25 Playoff marking the first year of the expanded 12-team field, all four first-round games were played on campus. The new contract saw the original New Year’s Six bowls serving as quarterfinals and semifinals, with quarterfinal/semifinal rights rotating on an annual basis. That said, the CFP’s contract with those bowls ends after the following season.
If quarterfinals had been on campus sites this season, Boise State, Arizona State, Oregon, and Georgia would all have hosted.
This comes amid discussion around how seeding works in the 12-team playoff. While the top 4 conference champions get a bye, they are automatically seeded 1-4, regardless of where they finished in the final Playoff top 25.
These certainly aren’t the only changes under discussion around the Playoff: an expansion to 14 teams could be on the table in the future, with perhaps further expansion to follow.
In other words, fans shouldn’t get used to how the Playoff looks today, because there’s a good chance it could look a little different 5 years from now (or even less).
Expectation is CFP group will discuss sites of quarterfinals and whether to move to campus games instead of bowls, says executive director Rich Clark.
Remember, contracts with bowls expires after 25-26 season. No contracts with bowls involved in CFP in 26-27 have been signed yet
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) January 18, 2025
CFP director Rich Clark says he expects commissions to at least “talk about” the future sites of the playoff quarterfinals, which are currently at bowl sites. Could they move on campus? It’s a discussion, at the very least for 2026 and beyond.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 18, 2025