Heather Dinitch Close ESPN Senior Writer College football reporter He joined ESPN.com in 2007 Graduate of Indiana University Pete Thamel
The College Football Playoff board voted unanimously Friday to expand the CFP to 12 teams in 2026, but is encouraging the sport’s commissioners to try to implement it in 2024 as soon as possible. Close ESPN Senior Writer
College football reporter He joined ESPN.com in 2007 Graduate of Indiana University
The board’s 11 presidents and chancellors approved the original 12-team model, which includes the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large teams, the board announced Friday. “This is a historic and exciting day for college football,” Mark Keenum, Mississippi State president and CFP board chairman, said in a statement. “More teams, more participation and more excitement is good for our fans, alumni and student-athletes. I am grateful to my colleagues on the board for their thoughtful approach to this issue and their determination to expand down the line of the goal and for the extensive work of the Steering Committee that made this decision possible”. Team ratings will continue to be determined by the CFP selection committee, which will remain largely unchanged. The four highest-ranked conference champions will advance one through four with each receiving a first-round bye. The teams seeded 5th to 12th will play each other in the first round on either the second or third weekend in December. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in bowl games on a rotating basis, and the championship game will be at a neutral site, as is the current four-team format. The 12-team model was originally drafted by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Swarbrick, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson and former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby. It went public in June 2021, but was bogged down by congressional politics. In February, the CFP announced it would not extend the current contract, which expires after the 2025 season. The major hurdle was specific objections from the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12. But after the lightning bolt of alignment this summer with USC and UCLA committing to the Big Ten and that conference signing a historic television deal, issues from those leagues began to fade into the background. Two weeks ago, the CFP board held an unannounced call, discussing expansion and the possibility of starting a 12-team playoff amid the current contract structure. This came on Friday afternoon, a landmark day for the sport, on the eve of the official start of the football season on Saturday. “The Pac-12 strongly supports CFP expansion and welcomes the CFP Board’s decision,” the Pac-12 said in a statement Friday. “Expanding the CFP will provide increased access and excitement and is the right thing to do for our student-athletes and fans. We look forward to working with our conference colleagues to finalize the important elements of an expanded CFP to begin as soon as possible.” It could take weeks or months to consider playing in a 12-team playoff in 2024 or 2025. While CFP officials have outlined the obstacles to such a sudden move — venues, hotels and television contracts — the money can appear as a powerful motivator for change.
