College football’s postseason doubles, Power 4 title games disappear, and ESPN gets part of its money back.
College football just traded its conference championship games for 12 more playoff slots. ESPN and the College Football Playoff agreed Monday to a five-year deal worth nearly $1.7 billion that expands the field from 12 teams to 24 starting in 2027 and eliminates the Power 4 title games, ESPN reported.
The money sits on top of what ESPN already pays. Under the six-year, $7.8 billion contract signed in 2024, reported at the time by CBS Sports, the network averages about $1.3 billion a season through 2031-32. The expansion adds an average of $345 million a year, according to CFB-HQ On SI. ESPN gets about $140 million a year back because it holds the SEC, ACC and Big 12 championship games that are going away, which leaves its net cost near $205 million. Fox, home of the Big Ten title game, is expected to recoup about $50 million a year.
Schools get a raise, unevenly. Big Ten and SEC programs stand to gain $2.5 million to $3 million each per year, while ACC and Big 12 schools gain $1 million to $1.5 million, On SI reported, citing Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger.
The format leans on campus gates. The top eight seeds get byes and host second-round games, and seeds 9 through 16 host the first round, putting 16 games on campus instead of four. All 23 games air on ESPN or ABC, though ESPN can sublicense six of the 12 new games, and its existing TNT Sports sublicense stays in place, Awful Announcing reported. Notre Dame no longer has a guaranteed path in.
“Opening the Playoff to more programs, more student-athletes and more fan bases across the country is great for college football,” said Mark Keenum, who chairs the CFP’s board of managers. The first 24-team bracket starts the second weekend of December 2027. The title game is set for Jan. 24, 2028, in New Orleans.
Sources
- ESPN – Sources: CFP, ESPN ink 5-year, $1.7B deal to expand field to 24 teams
- CFB-HQ On SI via Yahoo Sports – College Football Playoff and ESPN Agree on 24-Team Expansion: All Details Explained
- Awful Announcing via Yahoo Sports – ESPN, College Football Playoff officially announce expansion to 24 teams
- CBS Sports – College Football Playoff, ESPN agree to six-year extension worth $1.3 billion per season, per report
Featured photo: Steve DiMatteo / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. Generic scene; it does not depict the teams or events in this story.
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