College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams starting in 2024

The College Football Playoff will officially expand from four teams to 12 starting with the 2024 season

The College Football Playoff will officially expand from four teams to 12 teams starting in 2024, the CFP committee confirmed Thursday.

After clearing the last remaining hurdle with their contract with the Rose Bowl, the postseason tournament will be expanding sooner than the original plan.

Here are the details, via the committee’s official release:

The first round of the playoff in 2024 will take place the week ending Saturday, December 21, at either the home field of the higher-seeded team or at another site designated by the higher-seeded institution.ย (No. 12 at No. 5, No. 11 at No. 6, No. 10 at No. 7, and No. 9 at No. 8.)ย The specific game dates, likely late in that week, will be announced later.
For the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the four quarterfinal games and two Playoff Semifinal games will be played in bowls on a rotating basis.ย The 2024 quarterfinals will take place in the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, while the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl will host the Playoff Semifinals.ย The 2025 quarterfinals will take place in the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, while the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl will host the Playoff Semifinals.ย Specific dates for all quarterfinal and semifinal games will be announced at a later time.
The national championship games will be played January 20, 2025, in Atlanta, and January 19, 2026, in Miami.

That means only two more years of the four-team playoff, and then we’ll only have to deal with everyone complaining about the 13th team that got left out.

This could have an impact on the draft world, as more top prospects who currently opt out of non-playoff bowl games could be less likely to skip those games, now that more teams will make the playoff and get a chance at a national title.

[listicle id=640972]