College Football Playoff Goes to 24 Teams in 2027 Under a $1.7 Billion ESPN Deal, and Power 4 Conference Title Games Are Gone

College Football Playoff Goes to 24 Teams in 2027 Under a $1.7 Billion ESPN Deal, and Power 4 Conference Title Games Are Gone

The CFP and ESPN agreed to a five-year, nearly $1.7 billion deal that expands the playoff to 24 teams in 2027 and ends Power 4 conference championship games. Here is how the bracket and calendar work.

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The College Football Playoff will have 24 teams starting with the 2027 season, and the Power 4 conference championship games will not survive the change. The CFP and ESPN agreed on Monday to a five-year deal worth nearly $1.7 billion, ESPN's Heather Dinich reported, citing sources. ESPN remains the playoff's exclusive media rights holder through the 2031 season, according to a second ESPN report.

BallerTube first wrote on Oct. 17 that the 24-team format was close. It is now done, with the money attached.

How the 24-Team College Football Playoff Bracket Works

The field will have 19 at-large teams, the four Power 4 conference champions and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team. Notre Dame has no guaranteed spot and needs an at-large bid. Seeds 1 through 8 get first-round byes and then a home game. Seeds 9 through 16 host first-round games, so the top seed plays the winner of 16 vs. 17, and the second seed plays the winner of 15 vs. 18. The first two rounds are on campus.

The selection committee will keep ranking a top 25 and may expand its public list to 30, per ESPN.

Power 4 Conference Championship Games End

With no title games, the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 will crown champions from regular-season standings and their own tiebreakers. Power 4 schools must play at least 10 games, including a nonconference game against another Power 4 team or Notre Dame, and Group of 6 schools must play 10 games, including one nonconference game against an FBS opponent, per ESPN. Fox is expected to get back about $50 million a year for the canceled Big Ten game, and ESPN about $140 million a year for the SEC, Big 12 and ACC games. After that, ESPN's net addition is about $205 million a year on top of the current six-year, $7.8 billion contract.

The CFP management committee, the 10 FBS commissioners plus Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, voted unanimously for the 24-team field and for keeping revenue distribution the same.

The 2027 Playoff Calendar and Army-Navy

The regular season will start in Week Zero, the week before Labor Day, and end on Thanksgiving weekend. The playoff opens the second weekend of December 2027. Army-Navy moves into the old conference championship weekend with a standalone window on Dec. 4, while playoff teams rest, and ESPN reports the Heisman ceremony is expected that evening. Quarterfinals are Dec. 31 (Sugar) and Jan. 1, 2028 (Fiesta, Peach and Rose), semifinals Jan. 13 (Orange) and Jan. 14 (Cotton), and the national championship is Jan. 24, 2028, in New Orleans.

All 23 games will be on ESPN or ABC, though ESPN can sublicense six of the 12 new games. CFP executive director Rich Clark told ESPN the job now is simple: "we just need to make a spectacular playoff."

What Happens to Bowls and the 2026 Title Games

This season's conference championship games will still be played, and they will be the last. ESPN's Nick Dawson told ESPN no decisions have been made on the network's bowl games. Follow the rest of the season on BallerTube's college football page.