12-Team College Football Playoff Begins 2024
The College Football Playoff formally announced an expanded 12-team format Thursday beginning with the 2024-25 postseason. The expansion was first reported Wednesday night by Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, among others.
Next season will officially be the end of the four-team format, which has drawn plenty of criticisms over the seasons.
12-Team College Football Playoff Format
The top four teams as ranked by the College Football Playoff Committee will get a bye week to begin the playoff. The remaining eight teams will play first-round games at the higher seed's home stadium, or another venue designated by the home team if necessary.
Quarter- and semifinals will each be played in the traditional New Year's Six bowl games, rotating each year. For 2024, the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowl will serve as quarterfinal games while the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl will host the Playoff Semifinals.
The National Championship Game will continue to be its own designation at rotating venues. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta will serve as the 2025 championship site while Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens will host in 2026.
How Does 12-Team Seeding Work?
Back in September, the seeding rules for a 12-team CFP were announced. The top four seeds would be the four highest-ranked conference champions. Essentially, teams will be re-seeded from their final CFP rank based on conference championship victors vs. non.
Two other conference champions will get a bid– presumably the lowest-ranked Power Five champion and the highest-ranked Group of Five champion– while the other six seeds will be at-large. (Note: If a future Sun Belt Champion like James Madison is ranked higher than a future ACC Champion like Pitt, then JMU will get the auto-bid over the ACC Champion.)
From there, it's a traditional 12-team tournament:
- No. 12 seed at No. 5 seed
- No. 11 seed at No. 6 seed
- No. 10 seed at No. 7 seed
- No. 9 seed at No. 8 seed
Winners from the first round will advance to a New Year's Six bowl to play the top four conference champions who got a bye:
- 8/9 winner vs. No. 1 seed
- 7/10 winner vs. No. 2 seed
- 6/11 winner vs. No. 3 seed
- 5/12 winner vs. No. 4 seed
And so forth.
What Will The Postseason Schedule Look Like?
With Bowl Season spanning the better part of three weeks, there was plenty of time to shoe in playoff games. Per Dellenger, the first round will likely be played the third week of December (Friday/Saturday) and the quarterfinals on New Year's Day with one likely on New Year's Eve.
He goes on to note that the semifinals would be pushing up on NFL Playoffs, which are played on both Saturdays and Sundays– a potential ratings nightmare for the College Football Playoff. Dellenger suggests a Thursday/Friday format for the semifinal games.
The National Championship dates were announced by the CFP as January 20, 2025 and January 19, 2026.
“We’re delighted to be moving forward,” said Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff.
“More teams and more access mean more excitement for fans, alumni, students and student-athletes," he added. "We appreciate the leaders of the six bowl games and the two future national championship game host cities for their cooperation. Everyone realized that this change is in the best interest of college football and pulled together to make it happen.”
"A new era of college football is about to begin. I look forward to it."
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