College Football Playoff Makes Decision on Whether to Expand in 2026

The event’s format has been subject to much debate in recent years.

The College Football Playoff will enter a third year under the 12-team format. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In college football’s postseason, the status quo reigns for now.

The College Football Playoff will not expand in 2026 and will again consist of 12 teams for at least one more season, Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer reported Monday morning. Per Fischer, the only changes are two slight tweaks that guarantee all Power Four champions access and Notre Dame a berth if it ranks in the top 12.

These changes follow a protracted turf war between the Big Ten and SEC over the makeup of the tournament, with the Big Ten reportedly favoring a large field with many automatic bids and the SEC preferring a smaller 16-team field. They also follow a 2025 season where two Group of 5 teams—James Madison and Tulane—qualified thanks to a loophole that left ACC champion Duke on the outside looking in.

Neither change is unprecedented in the history of college football. The Fighting Irish had language protecting their access to major bowl games under the Bowl Championship Series system, and the four-team CFP guaranteed New Year’s Six slots to power-conference champions and the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion.

The CFP jumped in size from four to 12 teams after the 2023 season following years of grumbling about the specifics of the tournament format. As was the case with the four-team system, the 12-team CFP has proven popular early in history, with Indiana’s 27–21 national title win over Miami drawing an enormous television audience in the first year after tweaks to Nielsen’s ratings formula.

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