Report: Board of Managers Approves 12-Team College Football Playoff

Report: Board of Managers approves 12-team College Football Playoff originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The College Football Playoff isn’t just expanding – it’s tripling.

The College Football Playoff Board of Managers unanimously approved of the 12-team playoff during a meeting on Friday, according to multiple reports.

The CFP was introduced during the 2014 season as a four-team tournament aimed at determining a national champion. Teams played in two semifinal contests that doubled as bowl games before the winners faced off in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

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Under the new format, the six highest-ranked conference champions will be joined by six at-large teams in the playoff.

The new format is expected to begin in 2026, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. ESPN reports that the board of managers is encouraging college football commissioners to implement the new format as early as 2024, but Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reports that “there are a lot of details left to work out” to get the expanded playoff in place prior to the 2026 season.

The 12-team model is expected to start in 2026, after the current contract, according to a source. There's still a chance that it could go earlier, but those details are complicated and would take some time to work out. https://t.co/sRWlmiDvbe
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 2, 2022

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The 12-team CFP format will be the one that was initially proposed by the four-person working group. Six highest-ranked conference champions, six at-larges.

Source tells @TheAthletic that there are a lot of details left to work out to see if it can be implemented before 2026.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) September 2, 2022

The current College Football Playoff contract runs through the 2025-26 season.

The 2022-23 CFP National Championship will be played at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Houston, Atlanta and Miami, respectively, will host the ensuing title games.