College Football Playoff nears deal with ESPN to expand from 12 to 24 teams in 2027

The College Football Playoff is nearing a deal to expand from 12 to 24 teams, with the new format set to start in 2027, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Thursday, Oct. 15. The agreement still needs final approvals.

The 12-team format remains in place for the 2026-27 season. The 2027 national championship game, scheduled for Jan. 25 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, will be played under that format.

What the new bracket looks like

The reported structure is "19+4+1": 19 at-large bids, four automatic bids for the Power Four conference champions, and one for the highest-rated Group of Six champion, according to CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz and OutKick's Trey Wallace.

The proposed plan gives the top eight seeds byes. Seeds 9 through 16 would host seeds 17 through 24 in the first round, and the top eight would then host the first-round winners, per Field Level Media.

Sources told On3's Pete Nakos that the opening two rounds would be played at campus sites. The quarterfinals, semifinals and national championship would be on neutral sites. The quarterfinals and semifinals are expected to stay with the New Year's Six bowls (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Peach, Orange, Cotton), and the title game is likely to remain in January.

The current format has been in place only since 2024. The CFP expanded from four teams to 12 after a unanimous vote in September 2022.

The money

ESPN holds the media rights through the 2031 season under a six-year, $7.8 billion deal signed in March 2024. An expansion means ESPN buys the extra games.

CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello estimates the CFP could receive an additional $320 million on top of the current contract. Sources told CBS that CFP executives planned to seek roughly $70 million to $80 million above the nearly $250 million combined value of the conference championship games.

That last number is the sticking point. Conference commissioners wanted the lost title-game revenue offset before giving up those games.

The 30-day negotiating window between the CFP and ESPN was set to close at the end of last week. CFP officials activated a clause that gave the network five more business days to review the numbers, CBS reported.

Conference title games on the chopping block

Twelve more playoff teams means more playoff games, and the calendar has only so much room. Conference championship games are widely expected to be the casualty.

"They're gonna be gone," CBS Sports' John Talty said Thursday. OutKick's Wallace wrote that 2026 will likely be the last season for those games, and that fewer bowl games will be played starting in 2027.

The SEC and Big Ten, which hold ultimate authority over the format, started out in different places. The Big Ten pushed for 24 teams. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey favored 12 or 16, a structure that would preserve his league's title game.

Both leagues agreed in September to evaluate the larger bracket. Sankey laid out prerequisites in a memo: offset the lost SEC championship game revenue, and require at least 10 regular-season games against power-conference opponents. CBS reported the leagues' deadline to finalize a decision is Dec. 1.

OutKick's sources say Big Ten teams could be required to add a Power Four opponent to their nonconference schedules. The SEC already moved to a nine-game conference schedule this season.

The CFP management committee was careful in September. In a statement then, it said beginning a media rights discussion with ESPN "does not represent a decision or commitment to expand, but rather an opportunity to engage with ESPN and gather additional information to help determine a path forward."

Fans are not buying it

Supporters of expansion argue a bigger field gives more programs a realistic shot at a title and could push schools toward tougher nonconference scheduling. Fans on social media were largely unconvinced.

"Fans don't want this. Another move by the TV networks to line their pockets," one user wrote. Another posted: "Ain't no way you expect people to give af about half these games."

Newsweek reported that most fans remain against expansion. The common objection is that with 24 spots, teams with three or four losses could qualify, cutting the stakes of rivalry games and late-season matchups.

Workload is also a concern. The season already runs from late August to late January, and a deeper bracket adds games for the teams that advance.

USA TODAY's Austin Curtright wrote that fears about the four- and 12-team formats hurting the regular season have by and large proved unfounded. He added that a 24-team field will "drastically reshape virtually every aspect" of a season.

What comes next

No deal has been announced. OutKick's sources said a CFP-ESPN meeting Thursday would present the financial terms and that an agreement was expected. Neither the CFP nor ESPN has publicly confirmed final terms.

The next steps are final approval from the Big Ten and SEC and a finalized rights agreement with ESPN. Until then, the 2027 start date, the size of the extra payout and the fate of conference championship games remain subject to those signatures.