College Football Playoff 24-team expansion ESPN deal, Digi Mart USA News: The 12-team playoff is dead. Long live the 24-team playoff.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported that the College Football Playoff and ESPN agreed to a $1.7 billion deal that will expand the postseason field ahead of the 2027 season. As part of the arrangement, conference championship games for Power Four schools will end.
The top eight seeds will receive a bye in the first round, up from four in the current format. There will also be an additional round of campus-site games.
Next season, the playoff field will be confirmed on Nov. 28, 2027.
The Heisman Trophy ceremony will also move up one week going forward, with Heisman weekend held December 3-5 in 2007, according to the report. The report comes days after the CFP issued a statement saying a deal was “in the final stages of review.” The news does not come as a shock, as the writing was on the wall.
Still, the new reality for college football is only beginning to sink in. In broad terms, the sport has not changed dramatically since the playoff’s inception in 2014 and its subsequent expansion.
The best teams were rewarded for their efforts, and winning a conference carried importance.
A 24-team playoff represents a dramatic recalibration. Removing conference championships raises questions about what purpose a conference serves.
The regular season will carry even less weight when a team can lose three games and still clinch a playoff berth, and making the playoff will become less of an achievement on its own.
Many fans celebrated when college football moved away from the BCS structure and adopted a true playoff. More than a decade later, it clearly has not been the panacea some originally expected.
In due time, administrators may have to return to the negotiating table to debate alterations to the 24-team postseason.
