Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Big Ten Football

College Football Playoff officially announces 24-team Format, reveals details

Andrew Olson

By Andrew Olson

Published:

The College Football Playoff is expanding to 24 teams beginning with the 2027 season. Shortly after ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported the news, the CFP made the official announcement.

The 12 additional teams essentially come via at-large bids. After years of rumored auto-bids tiered among the Power 4 conferences, the Playoff’s announcement states that there will be 19 at-large bids under the 24-team format.

Similar to the 12-team Playoff, the Power 4 conference champions (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, Sun Belt) will receive automatic bids. The remaining bids will be at-large bids based on the CFP Selection Committee’s final rankings.

The 24-team CFP brings some changes to college football scheduling beginning with the 2027 season:

  • Power 4 teams to play at least 10 qualifying regular-season games against fellow Power 4 opponents.
  • Two open weeks in the regular season.
  • Regular-season games to end in November. (Nov. 27, 2027 for the 2027 season.)
  • Playoff games to begin the first full week of December, providing all CFP teams one open week after the end of the regular season. Power 4 conference championship games no longer played.

The 24-team CFP format means 8 more games to be played on campus. There will now be two rounds of CFP games on campus. Here are some of the details:

  • Seeds 1-8 will each earn a first-round bye and will each host a CFP Second Round game on their respective campuses.
  • Seeds 9-16 will each host a CFP First Round game on their respective campuses against seeds 17-24.
  • First and Second Round games will be played on the Thursday-Saturday of their respective weekend.
  • CFP Quarterfinals and CFP Semifinals to be played at the 6 bowl partners (Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl). 

With the elimination of conference championship games, the expanded Playoff keeps a calendar similar to this year’s 12-team format. The College Football Playoff National Championship for the 2026 season, the final year of the 12-team Playoff, will be played on Jan. 25, 2027, in Las Vegas. The first champion in the 24-team Playoff era will be crowned on Jan. 24, 2028, in New Orleans.

Andrew Olson

A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.