When does the College Football Playoff expand to 12 teams?

The College Football Playoff will still be the traditional four teams that we’ve seen since 2014 but is set to expand to 12 teams in the future. But when?

Since its inception in 2014, the College Football Playoff has been a battle of the teams deemed the Top 4 by the selection committee for the national championship. That’s the way it’s been and will be in the 2022 season — but that’s not the way that it will be forever. Change is coming.

Recently, the Rose Bowl conceding to be a part of the expanded College Football Playoff confirmed the inevitable of the 12-team playoff coming. It’s going to be much different and could also be a lot more fun for fans with more teams having an opportunity to win a natty and, let’s face it, more increasingly meaningful bowl games on the docket for entertainment purposes.

However, there are still things that a lot of people don’t know about the 12-team College Football Playoff. So let’s break down the big particulars that fans should know.

When does the College Football Playoff expand to 12 teams?

Following the Rose Bowl’s agreement, the CFP is set to expand to 12 teams in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. That was the big part of the issue with the Rose Bowl as they were trying to negotiate a deal that would move the start date forward from the initially planned 2026 date. They have obviously succeeded.

12-team College Football Playoff format

Rather than just taking the Top 12 teams in the country like the current format would, the expansion to 12 teams is going to have some new wrinkles that should make for great entertainment.

The Top 4 teams will be the four highest-ranked conference champions in college football at the end of the season. Those teams will all receive byes from the first round of play. The remaining eight spots in this 12-team College Football Playoff format will contain the next two highest-ranked conference champions and then six at-large bids to the CFP.

While the format does ensure that one Group of 5 team will make it into the Playoff as one of the conference champions will be from that collection of teams. It also affirms that Notre Dame or any other independent program will not be a Top 4 team.

Meanwhile, the teams that are seeded No. 5-8 will host the teams ranked No. 9-12 in first round playoff matchups at their home stadiums. Thereafter, the remaining games will all be the New Year’s Six Bowl games played at neutral site and includes the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl. As is the case now, the No. 1 team will choose which game and where it wants play and the remaining Top 4 will have their choice from the remaining games.

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