College Football Playoff To Officially Expand To 12 Teams Beginning With 2024 Season
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The College Football Playoff officially announced on Thursday morning the field will expand to 12 teams beginning with the 2024 season, two years earlier than initially planned.
“We’re delighted to be moving forward,” executive director Bill Hancock said. “When the board expanded the playoff beginning in 2026 and asked the CFP management committee to examine the feasibility of starting the new format earlier, the management committee went right to work.
“More teams and more access mean more excitement for fans, alumni, students and student-athletes. We appreciate the leaders of the six bowl games and the two future national championship game hosts cities for their cooperation. Everyone realized that this change is in the best interest of college football and pulled together to make it happen.?
The announcement the morning after the Rose Bowl agreed to early expansion after officials were issued an ultimatum that could have left “The Granddaddy of Them All” out of the New Year’s Six bowl rotation in the next contract.
The board of managers unanimously agreed in September to expand the field to 12 teams no later than 2026, the first season after the playoff’s current contract expires. It is expected to bring in an extra $450 million per year in gross revenue by two seasons earlier.
Until yesterday, the Rose Bowl was the lone holdout, as it wanted assurances from the playoff that it could host a semifinal in its traditional Jan. 1 time slot. Nothing could be guaranteed beyond the current contract, though, and officials ultimately relented under pressure of the ultimatum.
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With that, the first round of the 2024-25 College Football Playoff will take place on the week of Saturday, Dec. 21, at either the home field of the teams seeded fifth through eighth or at another site designated by that institution.
The four quarterfinal games, which will feature the winners of the first-round games against the top four teams that received byes, and the semifinals will rotate among the New Year’s Six Bowls, with the dates to be announced at a later time.
The 2024 quarterfinals will take place in the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar bowls, while the Cotton and Orange bowls will host the semifinals. The 2025 quarterfinals will take place at the Cotton, Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls, while the Fiesta and Peach bowls will host the semifinals.
The national championship games will be played on Jan. 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Jan. 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
"On behalf of the management committee and the board of managers, this is thrilling," Hancock said. "It's been a long process, but we are pleased that more teams and more students will have the opportunity to compete for the national championship beginning in the 2024 season. A new era of college football is about to begin. I look forward to it."
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