CFP and ESPN Sign $1.7 Billion Deal to Expand College Football Playoff to 24 Teams in 2027

The College Football Playoff (CFP) and ESPN have reached a major five-year agreement worth nearly $1.7 billion to expand the postseason field to 24 teams beginning in 2027. The deal keeps ESPN as the exclusive broadcast partner of the championship while introducing one of the biggest structural changes in college football history.

The expanded format will bring more programs into the national championship race, change the postseason schedule and eliminate the lucrative Power 4 conference championship games. The agreement also reshapes the financial arrangement between ESPN, the CFP and the conferences involved.

According to sources who spoke to ESPN, the contract is valued at nearly $1.7 billion over five years. The move comes only two seasons after college football expanded its playoff from four teams to 12.

ESPN Remains the Exclusive Broadcast Partner of the CFP

Under the new agreement, ESPN will continue as the College Football Playoff’s exclusive media rights holder. The network has been closely involved with the postseason for more than a decade and will remain responsible for presenting the expanded 24-team competition.

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro highlighted the partnership and the network’s commitment to the new format in a statement.

“ESPN and the College Football Playoff have worked collaboratively for more than a decade to make the CFP one of the marquee events in all of sports, and we remain firmly committed to elevating it in its new, expanded 24-team format,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said.

Pitaro also said ESPN values the CFP’s trust in the network as its exclusive media partner. He described the continued broadcast agreement as an important step in strengthening ESPN’s position in college football and college sports.

Although ESPN will retain the primary media rights, the agreement allows the network to sublicense six of the 12 additional playoff games to approved sublicensees for exclusive distribution.

How the New 24-Team College Football Playoff Field Will Work

The expanded College Football Playoff will feature 24 teams starting in 2027. The selection structure will include 19 at-large bids, the champions of the four Power conferences and the highest-ranked Group of 6 conference champion.

This means teams will have more opportunities to qualify for the national championship tournament, including programs that may not win their conferences but perform well enough during the regular season to earn an at-large selection.

The Power 4 conference champions will be determined by their respective leagues. According to sources, the conferences are expected to use regular-season standings and their established tiebreaking procedures instead of holding separate championship games.

The highest-ranked Group of 6 champion will also receive a place in the 24-team field. The remaining 19 positions will be awarded through at-large selections.

Notre Dame Will No Longer Have a Guaranteed Path

One important change concerns Notre Dame. Under the new arrangement, the program will no longer receive a guaranteed place in the playoff if it fails to rank highly enough to earn one of the at-large bids.

Notre Dame will therefore need to meet the selection committee’s ranking requirements to qualify for the expanded postseason. Its place will depend on its performance and position among the teams competing for at-large selections.

The CFP selection committee will continue ranking its top 25 teams. However, the committee could consider expanding its weekly rankings to 30 teams, potentially giving fans a clearer picture of programs sitting just outside the playoff field.

Top Eight Teams Will Receive First-Round Byes

The new format will provide significant advantages to the highest-ranked teams. The top eight seeds will receive first-round byes, allowing them to skip the opening round and advance directly to the next stage.

Teams seeded between No. 9 and No. 16 will host first-round games on their home campuses against lower-ranked opponents. The higher seed will have the advantage of playing in front of its home fans rather than travelling to a neutral-site venue.

The top two seeds will receive particularly favourable paths through the tournament. The No. 1 seed will face the winner of the No. 16 versus No. 17 matchup, while the No. 2 seed will play the winner of the No. 15 versus No. 18 matchup.

This structure creates different incentives throughout the rankings. Teams around No. 17 and No. 18 will compete to improve their positions and potentially secure a home playoff game. Meanwhile, programs near the bottom of the field will need to protect their places to avoid missing the postseason.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has supported the 24-team model and pushed back against concerns that expanding the playoff could reduce the importance of regular-season games. He has pointed to the system’s tiered incentives, including first-round byes, home-field advantages and more favourable paths for highly ranked teams.

College Football Regular Season and Playoff Schedule Changes

The expanded playoff will also change the college football calendar. The regular season will begin during what is known as Week Zero, the week before Labor Day, and conclude on Thanksgiving weekend.

The playoff is scheduled to begin on the second weekend of December 2027. The national championship game will retain its previously announced date of January 24, 2028, and will be played in New Orleans.

The first two rounds will take place on the campuses of the higher-seeded teams. The New Year’s Six bowls will continue hosting the quarterfinals and semifinals, preserving their place in the postseason structure.

New Year’s Six Bowl Games Will Remain Part of the Playoff

The six major bowl games will continue to play a central role in the expanded competition. The Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Peach Bowl, Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl will host the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

The announced schedule for the 2027-28 College Football Playoff includes the following dates and venues:

CFP Quarterfinals

• Friday, December 31, 2027: Allstate Sugar Bowl.
• Saturday, January 1, 2028: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential.

CFP Semifinals

• Thursday, January 13, 2028: Capital One Orange Bowl.
• Friday, January 14, 2028: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

The national championship game will follow on January 24, 2028, in New Orleans.

Army-Navy Game Gets a Standalone December Window

The Army-Navy rivalry game will also receive a new position on the college football calendar. It will be played on what was previously conference championship weekend, with a standalone broadcast window scheduled for December 4.

The new arrangement will give playoff-bound teams a weekend to rest while allowing the annual rivalry to receive its own national spotlight.

Sources also indicated that the Heisman Trophy ceremony is expected to take place later that evening.

The existing Army-Navy eligibility policy will remain in place under the expanded playoff. If Army or Navy qualifies for the 24-team field but then loses its annual rivalry game, that result will not affect the team’s CFP standing.

Power 4 Conference Championship Games Will Be Eliminated

One of the most significant consequences of the agreement is the expected elimination of the Power 4 conference championship games. Instead of determining their champions through separate title games, the Power 4 leagues are expected to use regular-season standings and established tiebreaking procedures.

The change is closely connected to the expanded postseason. With 24 playoff positions available, the conference championship games are no longer part of the proposed qualification structure.

The decision also has major financial implications for the broadcasters that currently hold the television rights to those games. ESPN owns the broadcast rights to the SEC, Big 12 and ACC championship games, while Fox owns the rights to the Big Ten title game.

The elimination of those events will therefore affect the financial calculations behind the expanded playoff agreement.

Breaking Down the $1.7 Billion CFP and ESPN Deal

The financial structure of the new agreement includes additional payments from ESPN for the expanded playoff. Sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that the network will pay an average of approximately $345 million more annually over the next five years.

This additional amount comes on top of the average $1.3 billion ESPN already pays annually during the same period under its existing agreement.

However, ESPN will effectively pay approximately $205 million of the additional annual amount. The remaining $140 million will be offset by the television rights value ESPN recovers from the cancellation of the SEC, Big 12 and ACC championship games.

Fox is also expected to recover approximately $50 million annually following the cancellation of the Big Ten championship game, for which it currently holds the television rights.

The financial arrangement demonstrates how the expanded playoff and the removal of conference championship games are connected. While the CFP gains a larger postseason competition and additional broadcast value, the networks and conferences must account for the television revenue associated with the games being eliminated.

How the New Agreement Builds on the Previous CFP Expansion

The move to 24 teams represents another major transformation for college football’s postseason. The sport previously operated with a four-team playoff before expanding to 12 teams.

In March 2024, ESPN and the College Football Playoff agreed to a six-year, $7.8 billion contract that ensured ESPN would remain the event’s sole media rights holder through the 2031-32 season.

The latest agreement follows a separate negotiation process focused on the financial value of expanding the field to 24 teams. On September 9, ESPN and the CFP entered a 30-day negotiation window to determine the value of the expanded format. That window closed on October 9.

The resulting five-year agreement keeps ESPN in control of the event’s primary media rights while allowing the network to sublicense six additional games to approved broadcasters.

The transition is particularly significant because it comes only two seasons after the playoff field tripled from four teams to 12. The 24-team structure will create an even larger postseason tournament and introduce new incentives for teams across the rankings.

CFP Leadership Welcomes the Expanded Format

CFP board of managers chair Mark Keenum described the expansion as an opportunity to involve more college football programs, student-athletes and fan bases in the national championship competition.

“Opening the Playoff to more programs, more student-athletes and more fan bases across the country is great for college football,” Mark Keenum said in a statement.

Keenum also expressed anticipation about the expanded system, adding that the organisation looks forward to seeing the new format come to life next season.

The agreement represents a major change for the sport’s postseason structure, broadcast arrangements and regular-season calendar. With 24 teams competing for the national championship beginning in 2027, more programs will have a route into the playoff, while the top seeds will have important advantages through byes and home games.

What the 24-Team College Football Playoff Means for the Future

The expansion will change how teams approach the regular season, conference standings and postseason qualification. Programs that previously had limited opportunities to reach the national championship will have more chances to earn a place through at-large selections or the Group of 6 champion position.

At the same time, the new format places greater importance on the selection committee’s rankings. Teams will compete not only to enter the 24-team field but also to improve their seeding and secure the advantages attached to the top positions.

The elimination of Power 4 championship games marks another significant adjustment. Conference titles will instead be determined through regular-season results and existing tiebreaking rules, while the Army-Navy game receives a dedicated December window.

For ESPN, the agreement secures its continued position as the exclusive broadcast partner of one of college sports’ biggest events. For the CFP, it establishes a larger tournament backed by a new five-year financial agreement.

The 24-team College Football Playoff is scheduled to begin in December 2027, with the national championship game set for January 24, 2028, in New Orleans.