College Football Playoff to Expand to 12 Teams by 2026 Season

College Football Playoff to Expand to 12 Teams by 2026 Season
Alabama's James Burnip warms up before the College Football Playoff championship football game against Georgia, in Indianapolis on Jan. 10, 2022. Charlie Riedel/AP Photo
|Updated:

After 14.5 months of haggling over details and questioning motivations, a plan to expand the College Football Playoff (CFP) to 12 teams was finally approved Friday, setting the stage for a multibillion-dollar tournament as soon as the 2024 season.

What still needs to be determined is just how quickly the current four-team model can be converted and implemented, but it will happen no later than 2026. When it does, major college football’s championship bracket will triple in size.