College Football Playoff officially expanding to 12 teams in 2024

It’s happening!

The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams starting in the 2024-25 season, it was announced Tuesday morning.

The 12-team field will feature four games in the first rounds, with the top four seeds receiving a bye. The games will either take place at the top-seeded team’s home stadium or at a neutral site, per the news release.

“We’re delighted to be moving forward,” Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, said in a statement. “When the board expanded the playoff beginning in 2026 and asked the CFP Management Committee to examine the feasibility of starting the new format earlier, the Management Committee went right to work. More teams and more access mean more excitement for fans, alumni, students and student-athletes.

“We appreciate the leaders of the six bowl games and the two future national championship game host cities for their cooperation. Everyone realized that this change is in the best interest of college football and pulled together to make it happen.”

Last year, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the 2024 expansion was in “jeopardy” — but all sides appear to have come to an agreement.