The College Football Playoff is nearing a deal to expand from 12 teams to 24 starting with the 2027 season, according to reporting from CBS Sports on Wednesday night that was confirmed by multiple outlets Thursday and Friday.
No vote has happened. The Big Ten and SEC hold final authority over the format and have a Dec. 1 deadline to lock it in.
The structures being reported do not agree with each other
This is the part worth being careful about, because several versions are circulating.
CBS Sports described a “19+4+1” model: 19 at-large bids, four spots for Power Four champions and one for the highest-rated Group of Six champion. The same CBS story elsewhere describes 23 at-large bids plus one guaranteed Group of Six spot with no automatic bids for conference champions, and does not reconcile the two.
On3’s version adds a detail CBS does not mention: the top eight seeds would get first-round byes, with Power Four champions and the top Group of Six champion receiving automatic berths.
On venues, CBS reports the first round and a new second round on campus, with the New Year’s Six bowls hosting quarterfinals and semifinals. The other version has the first two rounds at home sites and the quarterfinals, semifinals and title game at neutral sites.
Nobody should write any single bracket down as settled. No named CFP, conference or ESPN executive has confirmed the 24-team number on the record. The CFP’s only statement, issued Thursday, was that “constructive discussions with ESPN continued this week.”
Follow the money, because that is what is driving it
The combined value of the conference championship games is nearly $250 million. CFP executives were expected to seek roughly $70 to $80 million above that figure, which would put the added annual rights fee above $320 million.
The current ESPN deal runs six years and $7.8 billion through 2031-32. The existing revenue split sends about 29 percent each to the Big Ten and SEC, 17 percent to the ACC and 15 percent to the Big 12, with the Group of Six and Notre Dame sharing the rest.
The sticking point in the commissioners’ room has been how to replace the lost championship game revenue, which is exactly why that $250 million number keeps appearing.
The negotiation is not going smoothly
ESPN’s 30-day exclusive negotiating window expired Oct. 9 without a deal. A clause gave the network five more business days to review numbers. Some sources expected ESPN to retain the entire playoff, while splitting rights across multiple networks has also been discussed.
The format would start in the second week of December, and discussions have included moving Army-Navy from the second Saturday in December to the first.
The 12-team playoff would have lasted three years
That is the detail that should make everyone pause. The 12-team format was unanimously approved in September 2022 and first played in the 2024 season. If this goes through, it gets three seasons before being doubled.
Whether conference championship games survive is unsettled. Analyst John Talty has said flatly they are going away and called it the reality of the situation, but that is an analyst’s assertion rather than an official decision.
The 2027 national championship is already scheduled for Jan. 25 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Which 24 teams can reach it, and how, is being negotiated between two conferences and a television network with six weeks to go.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.