College Football Playoff expanding to 24 teams: 2027 move has big impact on conference championships, Heisman

The new format creates 23 playoff games, 16 of them on campus sites, with the top eight seeds receiving first-round byes and hosting second-round matchups. Seeds nine through 16 will host first-round games against seeds 17 through 24, all played Thursday through Saturday on the higher-seeded team's campus. The quarterfinals and semifinals remain at the six New Year's Six bowl sites, and the first championship game under the new structure will be played Jan. 24, 2028, in New Orleans.

The expansion comes with a five-year, nearly $1.7 billion media rights extension with ESPN, which will broadcast all 23 games on ESPN and ABC while retaining the option to sublicense select contests. This adds to the existing $7.8 billion deal that runs through 2032. The CFP also introduced new scheduling standards requiring Power 4 teams to play at least 10 qualifying regular-season games against conference opponents, other Power 4 teams or Notre Dame, while Group of 6 programs must schedule 10 qualifying games against conference foes, Power 4 opponents, Notre Dame or other independents. The selection committee will not reward wins over more than one FCS opponent per season.

For the Big 12, the move validates Commissioner Brett Yormark's long-standing push for a larger bracket that rewards conference depth over a single national-title contender. The league has gone 1-7 all-time in playoff games, and a 24-team field could realistically place three or four Big 12 teams in the postseason during strong years. Yet the loss of the Big 12 Championship Game — a significant revenue and exposure vehicle — forces the conference to develop alternative tentpole events. The SEC and Big Ten held decisive influence through a 2024 memorandum of understanding, and their commissioners joined the other Power 4 leaders in announcing Monday that this year's championship games will be the last.

The calendar shifts are equally concrete. The regular season must end after the final weekend in November — Nov. 27 in 2027 — with the first playoff round beginning the first full week of December. Selection Sunday dates remain undecided. The 24-team format is locked in through the 2031-32 season, giving conferences and programs a fixed window to adjust scheduling, revenue models and roster management around a postseason that now reaches nearly one-fifth of FBS.