The College Football Playoff will change thanks to a deal reportedly worth $1.7 billion with ESPN, according to reports from several media outlets. The agreement will expand CFP to 24 teams.
Unanimous decision
Update 11:48 a.m. ET, Nov. 9: The deal is official, as the CFP said in a news release that it was a unanimous decision.
The league said that the agreement also includes all ancillary programming, including the CFP Selection Show, weekly CFP Top 25 ranking shows, and more.
The breakdown of the 24-team format is as follows, according to the news release:
- “The 24-team CFP field will be comprised of the four conference champions from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC (as determined by their respective conferences), the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, OR Sun Belt; and the 19 highest-ranked remaining teams in the final CFP Selection Committee ranking.”
- There will be scheduling standards to encourage non-conference, but compelling regular-season matchups.
- No games will be scheduled for the same day as the Army-Navy game.
Despite earlier reports, the CFP did not disclose the financial terms.
Original report: ESPN’s Heather Dinich broke the news Monday morning. An official announcement is expected soon, Sports Illustrated said.
CBS Sports is citing unnamed sources in its report of the agreement. The Athletic also cited two unnamed sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, adding that the announcement is expected on Monday.
Dinich and other media outlets said that the agreement will eliminate the Power 4 conference championship games.
The CFP is in the third year of the 12-team playoff format, with the change coming next season, CBS Sports explained.
The football season will begin during “Week Zero,” the week before Labor Day and will end Thanksgiving weekend.
Selection day will be Nov. 28, 2027, while the national championship game will stay on Jan. 24, 2028.
The top eight teams will get first-round byes, with the first two rounds played at the highest-seeded teams’ fields.
The New Year’s Six bowls will be the quarter- and semifinal games. They are the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Peach, Orange and Cotton Bowls.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wanted a 16-team playoff but eventually agreed with the Big Ten’s 24-team format. The ACC, Big 12 and independent Notre Dame also wanted the 24-team agreement, according to CBS Sports.
News of the deal should not come as a surprise. The Athletic reported that the two sides were in the final stages on Friday.
They had reached an informal, preliminary agreement on a media rights deal three weeks ago.
ESPN already pays about $1.3 billion annually under the current six-year, $7.8 billion contract signed in 2024, Sports Illustrated said. The new agreement will add about $345 million each year to that contract.
Check back for more on this developing story.
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