College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams

Driving the news: The CFP's board, which includes a group of university presidents, announced that the new 12-team format will begin during the 2026 college football regular season.

• The College Football Management Committee, which includes commissioners from 10 conferences and Notre Dame's athletic director, will determine if the playoff can be added in the 2024 or 2025 season.
• Conference leaders have been negotiating the details of the arrangement for at least 14 months, AP reports.

Who's playing: The 12 teams will include the six highest-ranked conference champions and the top six highest-ranked teams that are not conference champions.

• The top four will be seeded No. 1 to No. 4 and will receive a first-round bye.
• The remaining eight teams will compete in first-round games. Higher seeds will host lower seeds either at their respective campus or at a neutral site.
• No. 12 will visit No. 5, No. 11 will play at No. 6, No. 10 will play at No. 7 and No. 9 will compete with No. 8.

When they're playing: First-round games would likely happen in the second or third weekend in December, the CFP said.

• Four quarterfinal games and two semifinals will be played in bowl games, which will be selected on a rotating basis.
• The national championship will remain unchanged.

The intrigue: Due to the new format, conferences could earn an additional $450 million over the final two years of its current deal with ESPN, which runs through 2025, AP reports.

Yes, but: There isn't a TV contract for the CFP setup after 2025.

• The expanded playoff format also means there's a potential new TV deal for the open market on the horizon, AP reports.

Go deeper: Big Ten Conference reaches record media rights deal