College football makes final decision on expanding playoff

It's official: the College Football Playoff has its format in place for the 2026 season.

USA Today Sports | Imagn

It’s official: college football has its playoff structure locked in for the 2026 season.

College Football Playoff leaders decided against any expansion of the postseason field and will stay at 12 teams for the 2026 season, the management committee said on Friday.

College Football Playoff says no to expansion

“After ongoing discussion about the 12-team playoff format, the decision was made to continue with the current structure,” College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark said in a statement.

But while the dozen-team field is locked in for this coming football season, decision makers will continue to look at the situation and make changes if needed.

“This will give the Management Committee additional time to review the 12-team format, so they can better assess the need for potential change,” Clark added.

“While they all agree the current format has brought more excitement to college football and has given more schools a real shot in the postseason, another year or evaluation will be helpful.”

Who made the decision?

Members of the College Football Playoff management committee, composed of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, met this week ahead of the national championship game for several hours on the subject of expansion.

Friday was the deadline for any expansion plans to go through for the 2026 season, a date that was pushed back from Dec. 1, 2025 after ESPN agreed to an extension.

Still, even with the extra time, the SEC and Big Ten were unable to agree on any compromise, leaving the system as is for now.

Everyone wants expansion, but how?

Expanding the College Football Playoff has been a subject of debate among the sport’s decision makers, most notably from the Big Ten and SEC, its two most dominant and important conferences that hold the most sway in the negotiations.

But the conditions of such an expansion remain an open question with at least one point of disagreement between the two leagues, according to ESPN.

For the SEC, a move to expand the playoff to 16 teams has broad support, including from commissioner Greg Sankey.

But the Big Ten is only reportedly interested in that 16-team field provided the SEC also agrees to another major expansion to 24 teams after three seasons.

And since the SEC is not prepared to commit to that plan, the consensus around keeping the 12-team system in place ultimately prevailed.

The other FBS conferences are ready to expand the playoff to 16 teams for the 2026 season, according to reports.

While the field will not expand in 2026, it will still award automatic bids to each of the Power Four conference champions, one for the best Group of Five team, and will guarantee Notre Dame an at-large bid provided it finishes among the top dozen in the committee’s final rankings.

What's next?

What we know is that the College Football Playoff will consist of 12 teams playing for the national championship.

After that, the attention moves to the 2027 edition of the playoff, with the deadline on whether or not to expand it currently set for Dec. 1, 2026.