In a landscape-altering move, the College Football Playoff is officially expanding to a 24-team format for the 2027 season, sources told CBS Sports.
The field will be built with a "19+4+1" model with 19 at-large bids, four reserved for Power Four champions and one for the highest-rated Group of Six champ. First- and second-round games would be played on campuses. The quarterfinal and semifinal games will continue to be played in traditional bowls like the Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl.
The move to 24 teams, long expected a formality in college football circles, will eliminate the popular and lucrative conference championship games. The SEC originated the conference championship game in 1992, and it had been an annual source of significant revenue for the conference in the neighborhood of $100 million. Last year's Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship averaged 16.9 million viewers, the seventh-most watched game of the season. The SEC announced on Monday that its 2026 conference title game would be its last.
Another significant change: The Heisman Trophy ceremony will be moving up a week to the first weekend of December. In 2027, it will happen the weekend of December 3-5. With no conference title games, there will be an open week after the regular season ends the last weekend of November. The CFP will then start the first full week of December.
The CFP is currently in its third year of the 12-team playoff format. Next year will be the debut of a doubled field of 24 teams.
Playoff expansion has felt inevitable for some time now. The only question was how many teams would be included. The Big Ten and SEC had control over the future format but were not always on the same page about the number. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey publicly supported a 16-team playoff but eventually acquiesced to the Big Ten's preferred 24-team format. The ACC, Big 12 and independent power Notre Dame also supported a 24-team format.
While the 24-team playoff format has not been particularly popular with fans to this point, the hope around the idea is that it will get more fanbases invested in the playoff race and late season games. It is about more access to the playoff, rather than a signifiant financial boon for the conferences. CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello previously reported the CFP could offer an additional $320 million on top of the current contract, which averages $1.2 billion per year.
"The decision to expand was driven by a desire to increase opportunities for FBS programs, student-athletes and fan bases to participate in the Playoff and have a chance to play for the CFP National Championship, while new scheduling standards incentivize institutions to schedule more compelling non-conference matchups during the regular season," the College Football Playoff said in a statement. "The expanded format will feature 16 on-campus Playoff games, which will bring Playoff football to more students and local fans while providing a positive impact for campus communities."
The CFP debuted in a four-team format at the end of the 2014 season with Ohio State winning the national championship. A decade later, in 2024, the playoff was expanded to 12 teams, and Ohio State was once again the first team to make it through the larger bracket.
How the Big Ten and SEC got to 24 teams
The move toward a 24-team College Football Playoff followed more than a year of debate and negotiation, with the sport's two most powerful conferences initially advocating for different approaches.
The Big Ten pushed for a 24-team field, while SEC commissioner Greg Sankey favored a 12- or 16-team structure that would preserve his conference's championship game. At one point the Big Ten pushed a model heavy on guaranteed automatic qualifiers divvied up mostly between the power conferences. It had traction for a time before a 16-team format of 5 automatic bids + 11 at-large teams became the most popular format amongst college sports executives.
Back in January at the site of the national championship game in Miami, CBS Sports reported that the ACC, Big 12 and SEC all preferred a 16-team format. That shifted over time and by the annual conference meetings in May, the ACC and Big 12 now preferred a 24-team playoff. The SEC was the lone power conference dissenter.
The breakthrough came in September, when both leagues agreed to evaluate the larger bracket. Sankey had outlined key prerequisites in a memo: offsetting lost SEC championship game revenue and requiring at least 10 regular-season games against power-conference opponents. The SEC's move to nine-conference games -- and the public and private complaints about it from some of its most prominent coaches -- seemed to play a role in the conference being more open to a 24-team format. With 20 spots now up for grabs, it'll be considerably easier for three and even four-loss SEC teams to make the field.
Once the SEC indicated its openness to the larger format, it was only a matter of time before it became reality.
Why replacing conference championship revenue was central
Expanding to 24 teams required making room on the calendar, putting conference championship games -- and the revenue they generate -- at the center of negotiations.
CFP executives expected to seek roughly $70 million to $80 million above the nearly $250 million combined value of those championship games, sources familiar with the process told CBS Sports. That put the potential additional annual rights fee at more than $320 million, on top of ESPN's existing agreement, which averages $1.3 billion annually. ESPN's position made the negotiations particularly consequential. The network already holds the rights to the ACC, Big 12 and SEC championship games. Industry sources said ESPN could redirect those rights fees toward an expanded playoff agreement. Disney Advertising also manages official corporate sponsorship packages for the ACC and SEC.
Army-Navy keeps standalone window
Amidst all the upheaval and change that comes with doubling the playoff field, one thing that isn't changing: The Army-Navy game won't have to compete with playoff games on the same day. However, it will be moving a week up in 2027 to get ahead of a playoff that is expected to start on Thursday, Dec. 9.
The Army-Navy 2027 game was originally scheduled for Dec. 11th and will now move to Dec. 4th. game. The annual game between the two military academies, which airs on CBS/Paramount+, is one of the most beloved college football traditions. Preserving the game's ability to shine in a standalone spot was critically important, to the point President Trump signed an executive order in March to ensure the game's exclusive window.
"We are also extremely grateful to the CFP leadership for their collaboration," Navy AD Michael Kelly said in a statement. "Finding a way to preserve the exclusive broadcast window for America's Game while ensuring our program has a rightful path to compete in the College Football Playoff is a tremendous outcome for our student-athletes and fans across the country."
