Report: College Football Playoff to expand to 12 teams in 2026, possibly as early as 2024
After a winding process, expansion to the College Football Playoff appears to be on the horizon.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Friday that the CFP Board of Managers voted to expand the field to 12 teams beginning in 2026, though Thamel and Heather Dinich report that a change could potentially come sooner and the board will push league commissioners to make the change as soon as 2024. A vote on expansion was expected, and recent reports seemed to indicate there was a high likelihood of expanding to 12 teams.
The College Football Playoff was instituted beginning in the 2014 season as a replacement for the controversial BCS system. The current four-team system has received its fair share of criticism, as well, and adding more teams to the field appeared to be inevitable.
The 12-team model is expected to start in 2026, after the current contract, according to a source. There's still a chance that it could go earlier, but those details are complicated and would take some time to work out. https://t.co/sRWlmiDvbe
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 2, 2022
The SEC has landed two teams in the playoff field twice, and CFP expansion will open the door for even more league teams to potentially compete for a spot in the tournament.
There are a number of ways a 12-team playoff could be constructed, and as of now, it doesn’t even seem the commissioners currently know the details. But one thing is certain: There will be more meaningful football in December and January.
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