After conference commissioners could not agree to a new format, the 12-team College Football Playoff will return for the 2026-27 season.
There are slight changes to the format for next season. As previously announced, Notre Dame will be guaranteed a spot if it finishes in the top 12 of the rankings. Also, the Power Four conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC) will have a guaranteed slot for their conference champion with one spot for the highest-ranked Group of Six champion. For that reason, Notre Dame and Duke would have replaced Miami and James Madison in this year’s field if the new format were in place.
After ditching the four-team protocol following the 2023-24 edition, the format has changed after each season. The four highest-ranked conference champions were given byes in the first year, a plan that was discontinued. Going forward, the ACC will be guaranteed a spot for its conference champion, no matter how poorly ranked it is.
The Big Ten and SEC both proposed ideas for how they think the sport’s postseason should go. While both proposals have merit, they are created around network interests.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti backed a 24-team format where the four power conferences would get four teams in each. Two automatic qualifiers from the Group of Five conferences would be paired with six at-large selections to complete the 24-team field.
The SEC has been in favor of a 16-team model where five conference champions would be paired with 11 at-large selections that creates a similar field to the 12-team model. That model would have added Notre Dame, BYU, Texas and Vanderbilt to the field, giving the SEC seven total teams and leaving the Big Ten at three representatives. The ACC and Big 12 support this proposal over the Big Ten’s idea.
College Football Playoff expansion beyond 16 teams triggers a review of ESPN’s exclusivity, which runs through the 2031-32 edition. The network agreed to a sublicense deal that sends five games to TNT, but ESPN still controls all rights to any College Football Playoff game.
For the SEC — which is backed by ESPN for its media rights — it makes sense to resist expansion past that 16-team threshold to allow ESPN to maintain total control on postseason college football. The Big Ten wants these rights opened so its TV partners (Fox, NBC and CBS) can potentially share the College Football Playoff. Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks publicly backed a 24-team playoff for this reason.
There are also sporting arguments from both conferences. The Big Ten wants its guarantee of at least four teams in the playoff and tried to hook the ACC and Big 12 in support by giving them the same access. The SEC believes postseason access should be earned and thinks it will get more teams in the field without multiple bids for each conference.
At the end of the day, money talks. The SEC and Big Ten are sticking their necks out for their media sponsors and fighting a proxy war that is really one between ESPN and Fox. With no expansion, ESPN comes out better but is still worried about the potential of expansion and losing its command on the sport.