Make New York Post a Preferred Source The CFP is only getting bigger.
ESPN agreed to a five-year deal with the postseason tournament valued at about $1.7 billion that will expand the field to 24 teams starting in 2027, ESPN reported Monday.
It’s a move that keeps the Worldwide Leader as the CFP’s broadcast partner and will also be rid of the Power 4 (Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12) conference championship games.
“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 in a statement. “We value the trust that the CFP has placed in us as its exclusive media partner, and our continued presentation of this premier championship further solidifies ESPN as the home of college football and the destination for college sports for years to come.”
Sources informed ESPN that the average additional payment from the network for the expanded playoff format is $345 million annually for the next five years, in addition to the average of $1.3 billion annually that it already is paying over that time span.
The 24-team field will involve 19 at-large bids, the Power 4 conference champions and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team. Notre Dame does not receive any guarantees, the way it does this year if it’s ranked in the top 12.
The CFP selection committee plans to continue to rank its top 25 teams with inclusion in mind. It’s also considering expanding its weekly rankings to 30 teams to reveal which programs are on the bubble.
“Opening the Playoff to more programs, more student-athletes and more fan bases across the country is great for college football,” Mark Keenum, chair of the CFP board of managers, said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing this expanded format come to life next season.”
As far as the format of the playoff, the top eight teams will have a first-round bye while the first two rounds of matchups will be played at the campus belonging to the higher seed.
The college football regular season will begin the week before Labor Day in what has been deemed “Week Zero,” and will conclude on Thanksgiving weekend.
The playoff will start in the second weekend of December 2027 and the national championship game will be keeping its set date of Jan. 24, 2028 in New Orleans.
Other changes include the Power 4 conferences determining their champions based on the regular-season standings and the established conference tiebreaking rules.
The Army-Navy game will also now be played on what previously was conference championship game weekend. If either one of the teams qualify for the 24-team field, the result of the yearly armed forces showdown won’t have an effect on the team’s CFP ranking.
Last month, ESPN and the CFP began a 30-day negotiation window to determine the value of a 24-team field. The new deal and change to the CFP field comes two years after the historic change from four to 12 teams in the postseason.
The two parties agreed to a six-year, $7.8 billion deal that put the network as the sole media rights holder of the event in March 2024 through the 2031-32 season.
ESPN remains the sole right holder but has the option to sublicense six of the 12 new games to those approved as sublicensees.
