Playoffs?!

The College Football Playoff will officially expand from four to 12 teams beginning in 2024, the organization behind the event announced yesterday. That’s two years sooner than previously planned.

🏈 Background: The reasons driving the CFP’s expansion to more teams are fairly simple. More teams = more opportunities = more games = more hype = more money. The new playoff format, which ups the overall number of games from three to 11, is projected to more than 3x the money that conferences currently earn from the event, per APNews ($600 million/year → $1.9 billion/year).

And while this new format was already approved starting in 2026, many university presidents and chancellors on the CFP’s Board of Managers pushed to move the plans up. But until recently, there was one major holdout: The Rose Bowl. The so-called “Granddaddy of Them All” reportedly wanted a guaranteed exclusive broadcast window on New Year’s Day, but ultimately capitulated without securing the special treatment.

🏆 How it’ll work: Starting in December 2024, the playoffs will be made up of six conference champions ranked highest by the selection committee, as well as the six highest-ranked non-conference champions (twelve teams total). The winner-take-all tournament ensues from there, with the top-four ranked teams all getting a bye.

+It’s championship week in college football: Click here for a guide to this weekend’s biggest games, and how they’ll impact the playoff hunt.