CFP 24-team format – What to know about the new playoff
The College Football Playoff has officially doubled in size, introducing a 24-team discipline that may begin in time for the 2027 season. It’s a momentous change for the complete sport, which is able to begin earlier, change the date of Selection Day, eradicate Power 4 convention championship video games, transfer the Army-Navy recreation, and have a trickle-down impact on bowl season.
It will even open the door to groups that by no means stood an opportunity.
“I would say that it provides the right balance of postseason opportunities for the number of schools in the sport competing at this level,” stated Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. “When there’s 68 Power 4 teams and Notre Dame and there’s 11 spots for them right now, you couldn’t find a sport in our country that has that few opportunities for postseason play. The CFP spot is what matters. I think it right-sizes that.”
How a 24-team discipline will affect the common season — together with a few of the greatest rivalries on Thanksgiving weekend — stays to be seen, however there is no turning again now.
ESPN will stay the sole rights holder of the occasion, however can sublicense six of the 12 new video games. (ESPN has been the sole rights holder of the occasion since its inception, and already owned two of the 12 new video games underneath the newest contract, so the community bid on solely 10 of them).
As school soccer prepares for the greatest change to its postseason since the introduction of the playoff in 2014, followers ought to, too. To assist, here is a take a look at a few of the greatest questions looming heading into the period of a 24-team playoff:
Jump to a subject:
How it works
Why now? | Regular season effect
Players sitting? | Noncon schedule
Committee | Playoff window
Bowls | Army-Navy
Portal timing | Heisman timing
Are we done expanding?
How it really works
The new 24-team format will include the Power 4 convention champions — ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC — plus the highest-ranked Group of 6 crew and 19 at-giant picks primarily based on the choice committee’s ultimate rating. Here’s a look at the bracket primarily based on the ultimate rating from final season.
Why is the CFP increasing now?
Money and entry are the driving components, however it grew to become an actual mannequin on paper final February when the Big Ten circulated a doc revealing its plan for the 24-team discipline. When information of the idea first broke, many leaders in school athletics scoffed at it — together with some at the highest degree who now help it — and followers booed it louder than at their rivals.
The Big Ten’s place, although, was vital as a result of it managed the bulk of the future format together with the SEC. In order for the playoff to change, these two conferences had to agree on what it could appear to be. That did not imply they ignored everybody else in the room, however their place of energy loomed giant in it, and the Big Ten refused to budge from 24.
By this previous spring, the Big Ten coaches publicly expressed unanimous help for it, citing the want for extra entry as paramount.
“Once the playoff show starts, if you’re not in that discussion, then everything else is meaningless,” stated Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, whose crew has not made the 4-crew or 12-crew playoff, however is on the bubble proper now. “We’ve really encouraged the fans and the media to concentrate only on the teams that are in it, and I just think there’s more to college football than the top six, eight, teams, whatever it may. I think the commissioner, one of his great points was it heightens interest in all games in November now across the country. How’s that a bad thing?”
By the summer time, Big Ten leaders had garnered help from the Big 12, ACC and Notre Dame. The SEC was the lone holdout preferring a 16-crew mannequin till it was ready to see that the convention might financially stand up to the lack of its championship recreation, which sources stated was valued round $80 million — and persuade the different Power 4 leagues to agree to a scheduling mannequin that features 10 Power 4 opponents.
Money is all the time a solution to playoff growth. (ESPN ponied up $7.8 billion in March 2024 to safe a six-yr deal that ensured the community would stay the sole rights holder via the 2031 season). This time, although, no one in the room was anticipating a large windfall and so they did not get it. But they did not lose cash, both, and that was one in every of the greatest issues from the Power 4 commissioners heading into the negotiations. Sources instructed ESPN’s Pete Thamel that the common further fee from ESPN for the expanded playoff is $345 million yearly for the subsequent 5 years. That is as well as to the common of $1.3 billion yearly that ESPN is already paying over that point.
Of that new $345 million, ESPN will basically be paying solely $205 million, as the community is getting again $140 million yearly from the cancellation of the SEC, Big 12 and ACC championship video games that the community owns the tv rights to broadcast. Sources instructed Thamel that Fox is anticipated to get again about $50 million yearly for the cancellation of the Big Ten title recreation, which Fox owns the rights to televise.
Some nonetheless query the motivation behind it.
“The push toward a 24-team playoff is all about generating more revenue and more slots for one or two conferences, period,” stated one supply with data of the discussions. “Expansion should be about what is best for college football as a whole, not about creating additional opportunities and financial value for one or two conferences.”
What will an expanded playoff do to the common season?
First, it adjustments it logistically. The common-season window will run from what was Week 0 — beforehand a partial week of video games in late August — to Thanksgiving weekend. The first Saturday of the common season can be Aug. 28, 2027, and the final can be on Nov. 27, 2027. Selection Day can be introduced at a later date.
As for the way it will change it philosophically? Strategically? From a scheduling standpoint?
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has pushed again on the narrative {that a} 24-team discipline will devalue the common season, citing “tiered incentives” groups can be taking part in for via November.
Teams seeded Nos. 1-8 earn a primary-spherical bye adopted by a house recreation. Seeds 9-16 will every host a CFP first-spherical recreation on their respective campuses towards Seeds 17-24. The No. 1 seed would face the winner of No. 16 vs. No. 17, and the No. 2 seed would face the winner of No. 15 vs. No. 18. Teams hovering round No. 17 and No. 18 try to transfer up to allow them to host a primary-spherical residence recreation, whereas groups at the backside are continually making an attempt to keep in the discipline or shield their spot.
“That’s the way we explain it to our coaches, and the way they think about it,” Petitti stated. “And we really like adding 12 more home games for the sport.”
If a crew qualifies for the CFP and would not earn a primary-spherical bye AND makes all of it the approach to the nationwide championship recreation, they’ll play a most of 17 video games, which is the identical quantity as the present system for any crew that performs in its convention championship recreation, doesn’t earn a primary-spherical bye and reaches the nationwide title recreation.
To evaluation:
Current system: 12 common-season video games, one convention championship recreation, a primary-spherical recreation, quarterfinal, semifinal and nationwide championship
New system: 12 common-season video games, no convention championship recreation, first-spherical recreation, second-spherical recreation, quarterfinal, semifinal, nationwide championship
Will gamers sit out the ultimate week of the season?
If Ohio State has locked up a bye or a primary-spherical residence recreation heading into the common-season finale towards rival Michigan, will the Buckeyes contemplate resting their starters for what has historically been one in every of the sport’s most storied video games? Both Ohio State coach Ryan Day and Oregon coach Dan Lanning stated in July they did not suppose a bigger playoff discipline would lead to coaches resting their starters for late-season video games, like in the NFL.
“Because of how the seeding would work, it’s so valuable,” Lanning stated. “One loss can be a huge difference in being [seeded] 1 or 5 or 8.”
Petitti downplayed that chance when requested about it this spring.
“I don’t understand the resting idea because you’re not ever safely in one spot,” he stated. “This isn’t the Philadelphia Eagles, who know the last week of the season whether they win or not, they can’t improve their seed or make it worse.
“We have one thing distinctive,” he said. “Because we now have a committee, you are pressured to all the time enhance your résumé. You cannot actually relaxation.”
Will a larger playoff change nonconference scheduling?
Yes.
As part of the agreement to expand to 24 teams, the CFP’s management committee committed to the following scheduling standards:
Each Power 4 school will be expected to play at least 10 qualifying regular-season games — conference opponents and nonconference opponents — against Power 4 teams and Notre Dame.
Group of 6 teams have to play at least 10 qualifying regular-season games — conference opponents and nonconference opponents — against other Group of 6 or Power 4 opponents, Notre Dame or another independent school.
This new scheduling settlement is anticipated to assist increase Notre Dame’s power of schedule, too, as extra groups can be wanting to schedule the Irish. Unlike this yr, although, there’s no assure for Notre Dame to earn a CFP bid if it is not one in every of the 19 at-giant groups.
The CFP choice committee will not give any weight to a win over a couple of FCS opponent per season. According to the CFP launch, the administration committee can grant a waiver from these necessities “in extraordinary circumstances.”
“So hopefully you’ll see more games like Ohio State and Texas,” one Power 4 athletic director stated, “because you’re going to be less concerned about that type of loss keeping you out of a 12-team playoff. If you win a game like that, it’s an unbelievably valuable win, and if you lose a game like that, it’s quite a good loss that shouldn’t penalize you.”
Petitti stated his convention is dedicated to it.
“We need to play more good games,” Petitti stated at the Big Ten males’s basketball media day. “We’ve been really clear about that. The season is going to start way better than it does. You know we’re committed to that. We get the 24-team playoff, you’re going to see many more competitive games scheduled. We don’t need to say we’ll do it. We’ll actually commit to doing it and working.”
How will growth affect the CFP choice committee’s job?
While the position of the choice committee is not anticipated to change, its consideration to the backside half of its weekly rating will now be scrutinized greater than ever.
Petitti had publicly questioned how the choice committee might pretty decipher between Big Ten groups with a number of losses and different leagues with fewer losses that did not play as robust of a schedule.
“I think they do the best job they can,” Petitti stated at Big Ten spring conferences, “but I think the job is virtually impossible. … They’re going to have to really grind 16 through 25 because right now, there’s no consequences of that. … I worry about it, but it requires them to do a lot of work all the way though, but I think because it’s big enough, we feel confident that it’ll be OK.”
It’s doable the choice committee might develop its weekly rating past 25 groups so the public might know which applications are on the bubble. When the committee stories for its weekly conferences in Grapevine, Texas, they arrive ready with a private rating of 30 groups to contemplate. If the public rating expanded, they’d doubtless be requested to include 35 groups every week.
What is the window for the playoff?
Next season, the playoff would start on Dec. 9, 2027 and finish with the nationwide championship recreation on Jan. 24, 2028. Starting in 2027, there’ll all the time be two open weeks in the common season. The full timeline for subsequent season is as follows:
Army-Navy and Heisman Trophy: Dec. 4
First spherical, eight video games: Dec. 9-11, 2027
Second spherical, eight video games: Dec. 16-18, 2027
Quarterfinals Dec. 31, 2027-Jan. 1, 2028
Semifinals Jan. 13-14, 2028
National championship: Jan. 24, 2028
What will occur to the bowl system?
Last yr, there have been 82 bowl-eligible groups, and 12 of them participated in the CFP. That left 70 groups eligible for non-CFP bowl video games — 32 from Power 4 conferences. Bowl Season government director Nick Carparelli pointed to the math when he stated that even when the playoff discipline have been to double, the “vast majority” of bowl-eligible groups nonetheless would not be in the CFP.
Carparelli stated he would not consider conferences will enter into bowl agreements that they do not consider they’ll fulfill, which ought to stop groups from opting out of bowls.
“Many of those teams would continue to embrace a postseason opportunity moving forward,” he stated.
Some bowl executives, although, query the high quality of groups that can be left to select from if the finest groups from the Power 4 conferences are all in the playoff — particularly from the SEC and Big Ten. Last yr, groups resembling Notre Dame, Texas, BYU, Vandy, Utah, USC, Arizona, Michigan, Virginia and Iowa would have been in a 24-team playoff.
“It’s going to be diluted for sure,” one Power 4 supply stated.
Iowa’s Ferentz stated, “It’s a sign of the times.”
“They’re great experiences, but that’s changed a little bit, too, because of the world we’re living in,” he stated. “We’re not going to stop that. Our team’s a good example. Last year we had an unbelievable experience playing in the Reliaquest Bowl. What a great experience it was for our fans and our teams. I guess I’m still kind of a football purist, but [a 24-team CFP] is kind of the equivalent of it. Although there won’t be a bowl trip, you’re just going to go play it, or host a game, which is cool, too. It’s like everything else we’re dealing with. Whatever ends up coming down, you accept it and make it a positive.”
It’s onerous to decide whether or not groups will choose out of bowls like Notre Dame did final yr following its CFP snub. The committee’s No. 25 crew might really feel prefer it has a choice to make following related disappointment.
“I think that’s a great question,” Stricklin stated. “I think it depends on where you are in your program at that time. I would say that bowls even more so are going to be like the NIT is now, which there’s still teams that like playing, and they’re excited for the opportunity, and some not as much, depending on where they are in their program.”
How is the Army-Navy recreation affected?
Leaders at Army and Navy have stated they’re supportive of shifting the recreation to Dec. 4, which might give it a standalone window the place the Power 4 convention championships used to be.
The Army-Navy recreation has formally been moved from Dec. 11, 2027, to Dec. 4, 2027, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The transfer returns the Army-Navy recreation to the first Saturday in December, a date on which the historic rivalry has been performed 45 occasions. Since 2009, the recreation has been performed on the second Saturday in December.
If both Army or Navy are chosen into the playoff discipline on Selection Day, the results of their rivalry recreation the following week will not affect their place, which can be the present rule.
“We appreciate the flexibility of the people of Philadelphia to accommodate this date change, and we applaud the collaboration between the city of Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Field and the academies,” stated Michael Kelly, the athletic director of the Naval Academy and president of the Naval Academy Athletic Association. “We are also extremely grateful to the CFP leadership for their collaboration. Finding a way to preserve the exclusive broadcast window for America’s Game while ensuring our program has a rightful path to compete in the College Football Playoff is a tremendous outcome for our student-athletes and fans across the country.”
Does an expanded playoff have an effect on the teaching carousel and switch portal timing?
Craig Bohl, government director of the American Football Coaches Association, stated the two-week switch portal window starting in early January is unlikely to change as a result of the group selected that window primarily based on its research — not the CFP.
“We’ve done an extensive amount of research, looking at data, looking at calendars and we settled on those dates because it was the best of this situation that we could have,” Bohl instructed ESPN. ” … The portal window is set because of the information that we have in front of us, regardless of where the CFP falls. It was looking at all the data and choosing to make the best decision we could. We were in hopes the CFP would end earlier.”
One supply concerned in the Football Oversight Committee stated there’ll nonetheless be playoff coaches on the transfer, particularly in the decrease half of the bracket, the place Group of 6 faculties resembling Memphis, James Madison and Boise State “have coaches like Jon Sumrall” who could possibly be shifting up a degree.
With the CFP semifinal now in early-to-mid January, and the nationwide championship recreation nonetheless in late January, there’s all the time going to be “constant consternation” with the portal, one supply stated.
“As long as you have that, you’ll have the portal right in the middle of the final four, which, you’re talking about four teams — OK, not the end of the world — but if you’re one of those four teams, no crying from the yacht, right?”
What does this imply for the timing of the Heisman Trophy?
Heisman Weekend can be held December 3-5 in 2027, and is anticipated to preserve its conventional slot after the Army-Navy recreation, which is able to now be on Dec. 4 as an alternative of the convention championship video games.
Tim Henning, senior vp of operations and technique at the Heisman Trophy, instructed ESPN the revised school soccer calendar permits for the Heisman, Army-Navy recreation and the CFP “to complement — not compete — with one another.”
“We feel very strongly the Heisman needs to maintain its position as a regular-season award,” Henning stated. “We don’t look at the CFP or the bowl games or any of the playoff games or Army-Navy as competitors. In this day and age of dare I say chaos in college football, having things like Army-Navy and the Heisman can withstand the chaos and be above the fray is good for the sport. When you look at traditions like Army-Navy and the Heisman, we transcend teams. We transcend conferences.”
Is this the finish of playoff growth, or will it transcend 24 groups?
According to the CFP’s launch Monday, the playoff will stay at 24 groups for the length of the present settlement, which runs via the 2031-32 season.