ESPN’s Heather Dinich just dropped a bomb: the College Football Playoff has officially locked down a deal to expand to a massive 24 teams. Yeah, you read that right. This new format is set to kick off in the 2027 season, meaning 2026 is going to be the last dance for the current 12-team setup after its super short three-year run. The whispers started about three weeks before this official agreement, and now the college football world is officially grappling with yet another seismic shift in the postseason structure.
The Never-Ending Expansion
It feels like we just blinked, and here we are again, talking about another CFP shake-up. Remember when the Bowl Championship Series, with its wild computer formulas, ran the show from 1998 to 2013? That was the OG postseason, slotting just two teams into the championship. Then, from 2014 to 2023, we moved to the four-team College Football Playoff, all about finding the “four very-best teams.” But that didn’t last, did it?
The CFP bumped up to a 12-team format in 2024, and even that’s seen tweaks over the last two seasons. This year’s setup, for instance, includes the four Power 4 conference champions, one Group of 6 school, and seven at-large bids. Oh, and Notre Dame, being the independent powerhouse it is, is guaranteed a spot in the top 12 of the final College Football Playoff rankings. But even a 12-team field wasn’t enough for some of the biggest names in the game.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has been leading the charge for this 24-team model. He even compared it to how MLB went to a 12-team postseason, saying at the Big Ten meetings on May 20, “We’re up against some older traditions, which are like college football is the last place where every team in the postseason has to be stone-lock legit chance to win the championship. That’s not the way playoffs work in any other sport, including the NCAA [basketball tournament].” And he’s not alone, with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark also backing the 24-team idea. They see it as offering way more access for schools in this Name, Image and Likeness era. Even SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has slowly come around to the idea.
Double the Teams, Double the Drama?
So, what does a 24-team College Football Playoff even look like? We’re talking literally double the size of the current 12-team model! While they haven’t spilled all the beans on the entire format yet, the early word is that it’s going to snag the top 24 teams straight from the College Football Playoff rankings. That’s going to include those four Power 4 conference champions, for sure.
The immediate question everyone’s got to be asking is: how is this going to impact the regular season? The college football world is already grappling with what another massive change to the postseason means. You know, there are already folks talking about the “ugly side effects” of a 24-team CFP. It’s a lot to process, and honestly, the full picture of how this behemoth will operate is still a bit hazy.
The landscape of college football is shifting again, and it’s shifting big time. With 2026 being the final year of the 12-team setup, every game, every ranking, every decision in the seasons leading up to 2027 is going to carry immense weight as teams try to figure out their place in this dramatically expanded postseason world. This is a game-changer for access, for the stakes of the regular season, and for what it truly means to be a championship contender. We’re about to see college football postseason as we’ve never seen it before, and love it or hate it, it’s going to be a wild ride.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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