
Georgia Bulldogs DL Jordan Davis holds up the National Championship Trophy. Photo: Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The College Football Playoff's board of managers voted Friday to expand its four-team format to include 12 teams, the CFP said
The big picture: The conferences involved in postseason college football could potentially make $2 billion in media rights, AP writes.
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