{"id":2167,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/2167","headline":"College Football Playoff expands to 24 teams starting in 2027","dek":"The new format adds 16 on-campus games and a guaranteed spot for a Group of Six team, while forcing some schools to rework their schedules.","body":"The College Football Playoff is getting bigger. CFP management committee members unanimously approved a move from 12 to 24 teams starting with the 2027-28 season, with ESPN also announcing a deal tied to the expansion.\n\nThe bracket will include 23 at-large bids plus one guaranteed spot for the Group of Six. Seeds nine through 24 will play in the first round, with higher seeds hosting on campus, while the top eight seeds get a bye. The second round adds eight more campus games, again with higher seeds hosting. In total there will be 23 games, 16 of them played on college campuses, before the format funnels into the New Year's Six bowls.\n\nThe committee said the expansion is meant to give more FBS programs, players and fan bases a shot at the national championship, while new scheduling rules push Power Four teams to play ten Power Four opponents. That requirement is already causing headaches for 2027 scheduling, with Indiana, USC and others needing to rework their non-conference slates to comply.\n\nThe playoff started with four teams in 2014 and grew to twelve just last year. This jump to 24 is the largest expansion yet.","published_at":"2026-11-10T00:04:03.683033+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"College Football Playoff expansion forces Indiana, USC and others to overhaul 2027 schedules","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-expansion-indiana-usc-2027-schedules/"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Have questions about College Football Playoff expansion to 24 teams? Submit them here","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7768374/2026/11/09/college-football-playoff-expansion-questions-3/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"College Football Playoff announces expanded 24-team format, ESPN deal","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-football-playoff-announces-expanded-182330096.html"},{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"The College Football Playoff Is Expanding To 24 Teams: Here's What You Need To Know","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/college-football-playoff-expanding-24-teams-heres-what-you-need-know"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"ESPN, College Football Playoff agree to details of expansion to 24 teams: Sources","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7765656/2026/11/09/college-football-playoff-24-teams-espn-expansion/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"How is Alabama football affected by College Football Playoff expansion to 24 teams?","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/alabama-football-affected-college-football-163155762.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"College Football Playoff expansion, explained: How a 24-team format will work starting in 2027","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-football-playoff-expansion-explained-185649089.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"CFP executive director acknowledges fans’ concerns before finalizing 24-team expansion","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cfp-executive-director-acknowledges-fans-201901050.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"How the new 24-team College Football Playoff will work","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/24-team-college-football-playoff-205315783.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}