After a year of speculation that the College Football Playoffs could be expanding to 14 or 16 teams in the future, the CFP management committee has confirmed that the format of the College Football Playoffs will not be expanding in 2026.
According to Front Office Sports, Jan. 23, was the deadline for the FBS commissioners and the CFP management committee to finalize any changes to the season’s format. That deadline has passed without any announced changes.
Related: SEC, Big Ten Likely to Propose 14 or 16 Team CFP Structure
“After ongoing discussion about the 12-team playoff format, the decision was made to continue with the current structure,” said CFP executive director Rich Clark in a statement. “This will give the Management Committee additional time to review the 12-team format, so they can better assess the need for potential change. While they all agree the current format has brought more excitement to college football and has given more schools a real shot in the postseason, another year of evaluation will be helpful.”
If CFP management still hopes to expand the College Football Playoffs in future seasons, they must make that decision by Dec. 1 to impact the 2027 season.
Despite the number of playoff teams remaining the same, CFP management did enact other changes to the process. For example, instead of the five-highest ranked conference champions earning automatic bids to the playoffs, now, the champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC will receive automatic bids regardless of ranking. If Notre Dame is ranked in the top 12, it will also receive an automatic bid.
The monetary structure of the CFP will also be adjusted for the 2026 season. The CFP is “ending its performance-based revenue-distribution model.” In 2026, the Big Ten and SEC will earn 29% of total CFP revenue, the ACC will earn 17%, the Big 12 will earn 15%, and the Group of 6 conferences will earn 10% collectively.
