College football apparently cannot leave its own bracket alone. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that the College Football Playoff is nearing a deal, pending final approvals, to expand from 12 teams to 24 starting in 2027, according to ESPN’s report. That would create a 24-team College Football Playoff in just three seasons.
Nothing is official yet, and that matters. The report rests on unnamed sources, and ESPN is also the playoff’s media partner (so it’s worth noting who is delivering the message). Treat this as a strong signal, not a signed deal. For more on the stalled talks, see our look at how the ESPN negotiations rolled past the deadline.
How the 24-team College Football Playoff could work
Nobody has announced the final details. Discussions have included 19 at-large bids, the Power 4 conference champions as determined by each league, and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team.
The top eight seeds would reportedly get a first-round bye and then a home game. In that setup, No. 1 would face the winner of No. 16 versus No. 17. No. 2 would face the winner of No. 15 versus No. 18.
Officials are still working out whether second-round games land on campuses. CFP executive director Rich Clark said they would “most likely” be on campuses, Eleven Warriors reports.
“Most likely” is not a promise.
The money and the clock behind playoff expansion
ESPN and the playoff entered a 30-day negotiation window on Sept. 9 to decide what a 24-team field is worth. That window closed Oct. 9, but talks kept going this week. After the close, the CFP said “the dialogue throughout the window has been constructive.”
The playoff is also finalizing a deal with ESPN to carry the extra games through the 2031 season, Yahoo Sports reports. This all builds on the six-year, $7.8 billion contract signed in March 2024, which made ESPN the sole rights holder through the 2031-32 season. Reporters have not yet disclosed the financial terms of the new deal.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said earlier this week that there is an “openness” to expansion and that he expected a decision soon.
Here’s the thing: what an expanded CFP changes for fans
Remember, the field only tripled from four teams to 12 two seasons ago. Doubling it again would be fast, even by college football’s standards. It would also reshuffle the weekly bracket chatter, like our current bracket with UCLA in and LSU out.
For fans, the bigger story may be the calendar. The change is also expected to eliminate the Power 4 conference championship games and start the season a week earlier, TSN reports. Clark said organizers would ideally leave a bye week before the playoff begins. That would likely fall on the first Saturday in December, which replaces the conference title games and still leaves room for Army-Navy.
Note the word “expected.” Nobody has confirmed the end of the conference title games.
What happens next for the 24-team playoff
The CFP expects to secure final approvals and make an official announcement “in the near future.” It has given no date. The qualifier structure, game sites, the calendar and the fate of the conference championship games all still need settling.
So the real question is not whether 24 teams are coming. It is whether anyone will still remember what a bubble team felt like.
