College Football Playoff expansion is official: What the 12-team format will look like

It's official: the College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams for the 2024 season. What will the new format look like when it kicks off?

The last obstacle standing in the way of College Football Playoff expansion has been cleared after Rose Bowl officials signed a contract that will allow the format to expand to 12 teams in time for the 2024 college football season.

CFP officials needed unanimous agreement from the six current College Football Playoff-designated bowl games to expand the playoff to 12 teams before its contract with ESPN expires after the 2025 season.

Five of the six bowls — the Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach — all agreed on amending the contract to expand early. 

Only the Rose Bowl, college football's oldest and arguably premier postseason event, requested a guarantee to maintain its traditional date and time in the future, something the CFP board denied, and after some time, Rose officials eventually gave in to the playoff's demands.

With that, college football will move towards a 12-team playoff event in the very near future. What will it look like on the field?

College Football Playoff expansion: What the 12-team format looks like

What to expect in the expanded College Football Playoff / USA Today Images - College Football Playoff

+ The six conference champions that are positioned the highest in the top 25 rankings receive automatic berths to appear in the playoff.

+ The next six highest-ranked teams that are not conference champions will receive the next six at-large positions in the playoff.

+ The top four ranked conference champions receive a bye in the first-round of the playoff format.

+ First-round games are played on campus at the site of the higher-seeded team's home stadium: No. 12 at No. 5, No. 11 at No. 6, No. 10 at No. 7, and No. 9 at No. 8.

First round

• No. 1 team (bye)
• No. 2 team (bye)
• No. 3 team (bye)
• No. 4 team (bye)
• No. 12 team at No. 5 team
• No. 11 team at No. 6 team
• No. 10 team at No. 7 team
• No. 9 team at No. 8 team

Quarterfinals

• No. 1 team vs. No. 8/9 team
• No. 2 team vs. No. 7/10 team
• No. 3 team vs. No. 6/11 team
• No. 4 team vs. No. 5/12 team

+ The model allows for first-round games to be played the week ending Sat., Dec. 21 for the 2024 season.

+ Thereafter the first-round will be played on either the second or third weekend of December on Friday or Saturday with at least 12 days between conference championship games and the first-round of the playoff.

+ Quarterfinals and semifinals are played between the remaining teams on the site of the six College Football Playoff-designated bowls, which rotate each postseason.

+ Quarterfinal games are scheduled for around New Year's Day, with likely three games on Jan. 1 and the fourth on New Year's Eve or Jan. 2.

+ The semifinals would kick off about a week later, likely on a Thursday and Friday in order to not conflict with the NFL schedule.

+ The national championship game will be played at a neutral site stadium and remain on a Monday in the middle of January: currently set for Jan. 20, 2025 and Jan. 19, 2026.

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