CFB Board of Managers Vote to Expand Playoffs
The board of managers of the College Football Playoffs met this week and unanimously voted to expand the playoffs to twelve teams. The current format sees the top four teams meet in a knockout format with just a semi-final and final deciding the national champion. The new College Football Playoffs will see a twelve team playoff that will be implemented at latest by 2026. The board are currently debating whether to implement the new system sooner, with CFP board of managers chairman, Mark Keenum saying,
“We have asked our commissioners, the management committee, to explore the possibility of us beginning the 12-team playoff format before the 2026 season, in either 2024 or 2025.”
New Format
The new format will mean that the top four teams in the playoffs are required to be conference champions, with six bids coming from conference champions and six more at-large bids. Those top four teams will receive byes into the quarter-finals with the 5-12 seeds battling it out for a place to meet them. For the first time in CFP history, home field advantage will exist. The top four seeds will play the winners of the play-in games at their own stadium, which they can choose to move to a dome or other venue if they deem appropriate.
There are a few obstacles still standing in the way of this happening prior to 2026. These obstacles are mainly logistical in terms of travel and venues. For example, the venues for 2024 and 2025 championship games have already been announced. However, it is likely that the massive TV contracts and intrigue for these games will mean this could be forced through.
The fans have been calling for this change since the first four team playoff was announced. They will finally get their wish by 2026 and if we were to take a guess, probably a little bit sooner.
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