Since 2014 the college football playoff has been a staple of the football season. With just four teams though, it appeared that the major blue blood programs had a monopoly on the four playoff spots.
That appears to be changing.
According to reports, the college football playoff will be expanding to 12 teams by 2026.
The CFP Board of Managers came to the decision Friday afternoon after multiple years of potential expansion had been thwarted. CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock announced in February that expanding for the 2024 and ’25 seasons was off the table and attention would be turned to what the playoff would look like for 2026 and beyond.
The top four seeds would be conference champions and receive byes into the second round. First-round games would be played on campus and the rest at bowl sites.
Some additional questions will need to be hurdled along college football for the next few years such as dates of games, host sites, available television windows, and impact on the regular-season schedule. The presidents of the committee will continue to meet to determine the answers to those questions.
The committee also needs to determine how all the new additional revenue will be shared among the college football participants.
The latest news comes after the SEC and Big Ten conferences received major university transfers. Oklahoma and Texas are expected to move to the SEC, while UCLA and USC are heading to the Big Ten. An increase in playoff teams also allows for other mid-major programs to have their chance at competing with other power five programs.
