CFP doubles playoff field to 24 teams, ending conference title games

Twenty-four. That is the number of teams that will compete for the national championship starting in the 2027 season, according to an announcement made on Monday by the College Football Playoff organization. This expansion doubles the current 12-team format, which has been in use since 2024.

The new structure guarantees an automatic bid to every champion from the Power 4 conferences. These leagues include the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and Big 12. The highest-ranked school from the Group of 6 conferences will also earn an automatic spot. The Group of 6 consists of the American Athletic, Sun Belt, Mid-America, Mountain West, and Pac-12 conferences, along with Conference USA. The selection committee will fill the remaining 19 slots with at-large picks.

A major change accompanies these new bids. The Power 4 conferences will stop holding their traditional championship games. Instead, titles will be determined by regular season standings and specific tiebreakers set by each league. This shift removes a key end-of-season event and places more weight on performance across the full regular season.

The tournament bracket will feature first-round byes for the top eight ranked teams. Schools ranked nine through 16 will host opponents ranked 17 through 24 at their own stadiums for the opening round. The second round will also take place on campus. This setup means 16 games will be played at home venues. The quarterfinals and semifinals will remain at the New Year's six bowl games: the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, Peach, and Cotton Bowls.

The CFP stated that the expansion aims to increase opportunities for FBS programs, student-athletes, and fan bases to compete for the title. The organization noted that new scheduling standards will encourage schools to arrange more compelling non-conference matchups during the regular season.

The annual Army-Navy game will be moved to conference championship week, typically the first Saturday in December. No other games will be scheduled on that day to keep the rivalry as a standalone event. The regular season for the upcoming year will begin the week before Labor Day and end on the final weekend of November.

This 24-team format is guaranteed to stay in place for at least five seasons, running from the 2027 season through the 2031-32 season. The playoff began with four teams in 2014 and tripled to 12 teams in 2024. The upcoming expansion makes the field six times larger than the original format.