College Football Playoff expected to stay at 12-team bracket for 2026
The College Football Playoff is expected to stay at 12 teams for the 2026 season, sources tell On3’s Chris Low, Brett McMurphy and Pete Nakos. The move is widely expected as the Big Ten and SEC, which hold the keys to CFP expansion, remain in a stalemate.
The Big Ten wants a 24-team model, while the SEC – and the other eight conferences, along with Notre Dame – want a 16-team playoff. The Big Ten has expressed some willingness to move to the 16-team model in 2026 if there were assurances to expand to 24 teams in the upcoming years.
The CFP management committee, which is made up of 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, met earlier this week in Miami ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game for three and a half hours. While the sport’s two wealthiest conferences remain at an impasse, the other FBS conferences are ready to expand to 16 teams for 2026.
Friday marked the extended deadline for CFP expansion for the 2026 season. ESPN previously extended the deadline for expansion, pushing the date from Dec. 1, 2025, to Jan. 23, 2026; however, the Big Ten and SEC were unable to agree on a compromise.
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The field will not expand in 2026, but auto bids will go to each Power 4 champion, regardless of ranking, and Notre Dame is guaranteed an at-large bid if ranked in the top 12 of the final CFP poll.
With the CFP sticking with a 12-team bracket for the 2026 season, the focus now shifts to the 2027 playoff. CFP director Rich Clark said the deadline for the 2027 season will be Dec. 1, 2026.
“We’re only in Year 2 of our 12-team format, so I reminded my colleagues that from when we had the very first notion of going beyond just a four-team playoff to actually having a 12-team playoff, it took five years,” CFP Board chair and Mississippi State president Mark Keenum said earlier this week in Miami. “… The fact that we’re having conversations is a good thing, but there are a lot of things to weigh in on this. All the presidents of all the conferences are speaking through their commissioners, and they’re negotiating this. So we’ll see where it plays out.”