24-Team College Football Playoff: Format, Money and Today’s Bracket
The field doubles in 2027, Power 4 title games go away, and here is what the bracket would look like with this week's rankings.
The 24-team College Football Playoff is official, and it changes more than the size of the bracket. The CFP Management Committee unanimously approved the move Monday, Nov. 9, starting with the 2027-28 season, and signed ESPN to a new deal to carry every game. Conference championship games in the Power 4 are going away, eight teams will get byes, and 16 of the 23 playoff games will be played on campus.
This season stays at 12 teams. Next year, the field doubles.
OFFICIAL: CFP to Expand to 24 Teams Starting with the 2027-28 College Football Season; Announces Exclusive Media Rights Agreement with ESPN to Televise New CFP Games through the 2031-32 Season
Full news release and fact sheet » https://t.co/duBPAfukQy
— CFP (@CFBPlayoff) November 9, 2026
How the 24-team College Football Playoff works
The CFP laid out the qualifying rules in its official fact sheet:
- Four automatic bids go to the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, as each league decides them.
- One automatic bid goes to the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt.
- 19 at-large bids go to the highest-ranked remaining teams in the committee’s final rankings.
- Seeds 1-8 get a first-round bye and host a second-round game on campus.
- Seeds 9-16 host seeds 17-24 in the first round, also on campus.
The quarterfinals and semifinals stay at the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose and Sugar bowls. The first national title game under the new format is set for Monday, Jan. 24, 2028, in New Orleans.
The path is built to reward the top two seeds. Under the format, the No. 1 seed would face the winner of No. 16 vs. No. 17, and No. 2 would get the winner of No. 15 vs. No. 18, according to ESPN.
The money behind it
ESPN’s new five-year deal is worth nearly $1.7 billion, ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported. That works out to about $345 million a year on top of the roughly $1.3 billion a year the network was already paying for the playoff.
The real cost to ESPN is lower. The network owns the TV rights to the SEC, Big 12 and ACC title games, and losing those games gives it back about $140 million a year, ESPN reported. That puts ESPN’s added payment closer to $205 million a year.
ABC will air at least three games from each of the first two rounds, plus one quarterfinal and one semifinal, under the CFP’s announcement. ESPN can sublicense some games to other networks.
What a 24-team bracket would look like today
To make this real, here’s the field you’d get straight off the committee’s latest CFP rankings, where Georgia took over at No. 1. It’s a simple version: the top 24 teams, with Boise State at No. 24 as the top Group of 6 team. In a real 24-team year, conference champions would be decided by each league, which could shuffle the bottom of the field.
| Round | Matchup |
|---|---|
| Byes (Nos. 1-8) | Georgia, Utah, Alabama, UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas, Miami, Tennessee |
| First round | No. 24 Boise State at No. 9 Indiana |
| First round | No. 23 Arizona at No. 10 BYU |
| First round | No. 22 Missouri at No. 11 Kentucky |
| First round | No. 21 LSU at No. 12 Texas Tech |
| First round | No. 20 Ohio State at No. 13 Wake Forest |
| First round | No. 19 Ole Miss at No. 14 Houston |
| First round | No. 18 USC at No. 15 Iowa |
| First round | No. 17 South Carolina at No. 16 Oregon |
A few things jump out. Ohio State, 6-3 and No. 20 after its loss at Oregon, would be playing a road playoff game at Wake Forest. Texas Tech, the 8-1 team squeezed out of the current 12-team projection, would be hosting LSU. Six of the 16 first-round teams have three losses. Oklahoma State, at No. 25, would be the first team out.
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger put together his own 24-team bracket from this week’s rankings, too.
Here's how the CFP's proposed 24-team expanded playoff bracket would look if using the selection committee's rankings today. pic.twitter.com/1pqQGLjE08
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 11, 2026
The end of Power 4 title games
This is the trade-off that took the longest to settle. The CFP release says each league decides whether to keep its championship game. In practice, the 24-team model ends the Power 4 title games, ESPN and CBS Sports reported, because there’s no room for them on the calendar.
The 2027 regular season ends Saturday, Nov. 27, and the playoff starts the first full week of December. Heisman weekend moves up a week, to Dec. 3-5, 2027. The CFP also promised it won’t schedule any playoff games against Army-Navy.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti pushed hardest for 24 teams. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey publicly backed a 16-team field before coming around to the Big Ten’s plan, according to CBS Sports.
New scheduling rules for every program
The larger bracket comes with a catch for athletic directors. Power 4 schools must play at least 10 qualifying regular-season games, meaning conference games plus non-conference games against other Power 4 teams or Notre Dame. Group of 6 schools need 10 games against FBS opponents from the Power 4, Group of 6, Notre Dame or other independents. The committee will give no credit for beating more than one FCS team in a season.
That’s the CFP’s answer to critics who say a 24-team field waters down the regular season. With so many spots available, the committee wants teams playing tougher schedules to earn them.
Why a lot of fans aren’t sold
Plenty of fans and media members don’t like it. The Spun summed up the reaction with a headline saying fans think ESPN just “killed” the regular season. ESPN’s own Bill Connelly called it the expansion no one asked for. CFP executive director Rich Clark acknowledged the fan opposition, but said the committee decided to move forward, Pro Football Network reported.
The loudest complaint is about conference title games. CBS Sports writer Shehan Jeyarajah said he’ll miss them and expects first-round playoff games to be less entertaining.
I'm gonna miss conference championship games a lot. I'll say it right now, first round games in the 24-team playoff will be substantially less entertaining.
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) November 9, 2026
Supporters point to access. Under the new format, a team ranked anywhere in the top 24 is in, as Clark put it, and CFP board chair Mark Keenum said opening the playoff to more programs and fan bases is good for the sport.
One more 12-team run first
None of this affects the current season. The committee releases its third rankings Tuesday, Nov. 17, and the 12-team first round is set for Dec. 18-19 on campus. The national championship game is Jan. 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
After that, college football’s postseason doubles in size.
For more on the sport, see our college football news page.
Sources: College Football Playoff, ESPN, CBS Sports, New York Post, TSN, Pro Football Network, The Spun, Ross Dellenger, Shehan Jeyarajah, CFP
