CFP, ESPN ‘nearing deal’ on 24-team format to begin in 2027

CFP, ESPN ‘nearing deal’ on 24-team format to begin in 2027

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CFP, ESPN ‘nearing deal’ on 24-team format to begin in 2027
Dec 20, 2025; College Station, TX, USA; A detail view of College Football Playoffs logo on a TV camera at Kyle Field prior to the game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Texas A&M Aggies. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The College Football Playoff appears to officially be expanding.

According to a report by ESPN college football reporter Pete Thamel, the CFP “is nearing a deal to expand to 24 teams” for the 2027 season. A deal is “expected to come together in the near future, pending final approvals,” Thamel writes. Prior reports indicate that any 24-team format would necessarily eliminate conference championship games.

ESPN will retain exclusive rights to the 24-team playoff through the 2031 season, which is when the network’s current agreement for the 12-team playoff is set to expire. ESPN currently pays an average of $1.3 billion per year to broadcast the playoff in its entirety. For the past two seasons, ESPN sublicensed a package of two first-round games to TNT Sports (now owned by Skydance). That sublicense, which runs through 2028, expands this season to include two quarterfinal games and a semifinal game. It’s unclear whether ESPN’s new deal with the CFP will alter the terms of its sublicense agreement beginning next season.

Last Friday, CFP leadership sent a formal proposal to ESPN outlining new terms for the expanded postseason. ESPN had until Oct. 19 to agree to a deal with the CFP before rights for the playoff could’ve been taken to the open market, where other networks could have submitted bids. That process will no longer happen, despite recent reporting by Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger suggesting there was a desire among some CFP stakeholders to test the waters.

Financial terms of the deal have not yet been reported, though it is expected that ESPN will pay at least $300 million more per year than its current agreement. That amount is the revenue generated by the 10 FBS conference championship games, which will presumably be eliminated under the new format. To make the expanded playoff financially viable, the CFP needed to strike a deal that would recoup that $300 million and then some. ESPN already allocated some $200 million for its portfolio of conference championship games, which it will no longer have to pay, meaning that money can now be put towards the more expensive CFP deal.

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