10:06 PM ET
Pete ThamelESPN
The past remaining obstacle to expanding the College Football Playoff to 12 teams successful the 2024 and 2025 seasons has been cleared.
The Rose Bowl reached an statement that officially paves the mode for the College Football Playoff to grow successful the last 2 seasons of the existent declaration -- 2024 and 2025.
"We're delighted to beryllium moving forward," CFP enforcement manager Bill Hancock said successful a prepared connection released Thursday. "When the committee expanded the playoff opening successful 2026 and asked the CFP Management Committee to analyse the feasibility of starting the caller format earlier, the Management Committee went close to work. More teams and much entree mean much excitement for fans, alumni, students and student-athletes.
"We admit the leaders of the six vessel games and the 2 aboriginal championship-game big cities for their cooperation. Everyone realized that this alteration is successful the champion involvement of assemblage shot and pulled unneurotic to marque it happen."
The archetypal circular of the playoff successful 2024 volition instrumentality spot the week ending Sat., Dec. 21, astatine either the location tract of the higher-seeded squad oregon astatine different tract designated by the higher-seeded school. (No. 12 astatine No. 5, No. 11 astatine No. 6, No. 10 astatine No. 7, and No. 9 astatine No. 8.) The circumstantial crippled dates, apt precocious successful that week, volition beryllium announced later.
For the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the 4 quarterfinal games and 2 semifinal games volition beryllium played successful bowls connected a rotating basis. The 2024 quarterfinals volition instrumentality spot successful the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, portion the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl volition big the semifinals. The 2025 quarterfinals volition instrumentality spot successful the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, portion the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl volition big the semifinals. Specific dates for each quarterfinal and semifinal games volition beryllium announced astatine a aboriginal time.
The nationalist title games volition beryllium played Jan. 20, 2025, successful Atlanta, and Jan. 19, 2026, successful Miami.
"I'm excited for College Football Playoff expansion, arsenic I said from Day 1," Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren told ESPN connected Thursday. "I was supportive of it, and I was supportive of the 12-team playoff. We conscionable had a batch of issues to enactment through.
"We're partners with the Rose Bowl and I person large respect for the Rose Bowl. Any clip you person the magnitude of the narration we've had, it's 1 of the cornerstones of assemblage football. I didn't instrumentality it astatine each idiosyncratic that they were holding thing up. They've been 1 of the cardinal components of the assemblage shot postseason championship, from the BCS to the CFP."
In aboriginal September, the College Football Playoff committee of managers voted to grow the CFP to 12 teams starting successful 2026.
With astir $450 cardinal astatine involvement successful the last 2 years of the existent contract, the way toward expanding successful those 2 seasons has been fraught with complications.
But aft months of haggling, getting the Rose Bowl connected committee loomed arsenic the last step. The Rose Bowl needed to amend its declaration arsenic the different 5 alleged "contract bowls" needed to bash successful bid to accommodate the caller system. Ultimately, the Rose Bowl's practice loomed arsenic the last barrier.
A root told ESPN's Heather Dinich earlier this week that the Rose Bowl was fundamentally fixed an ultimatum this week to hold to presumption oregon hazard being unopen retired of the adjacent tv contract, which begins successful 2026.
The Rose Bowl's requests for peculiar attraction included an exclusive model for the crippled -- a tv model considered 1 of the astir invaluable successful sports -- successful years erstwhile the Rose Bowl wasn't hosting a College Football Playoff crippled connected New Year's.
Essentially, sources told ESPN that CFP officials told Rose Bowl officials this week that they'd marque good-faith efforts to enactment with them, but if the Rose Bowl wanted to instrumentality portion successful the adjacent mentation of the CFP, it needed to judge a relation that didn't see important peculiar favors.
Thursday's announcement puts an extremity to the awkward and analyzable process to grow the College Football Playoff, which has epitomized the fractured and nonlinear operation of assemblage sports. To scope the September enlargement determination to 12 teams, it took important momentum swings that included introducing a 12-team connection successful June 2021. That yet got changeable down amid league infighting, starring to second-guessing connected wherefore a imaginable exemplary was announced earlier it was approved by each the constituents.
The pursuing year, the assemblage presidents who marque up the CFP committee of managers fundamentally decided to enactment backward, archetypal approving the 12-team exemplary successful September that would commencement successful 2026. They past targeted 2024 and 2025, which was ever going to beryllium analyzable due to the fact that it required presidents from each 10 conferences and Notre Dame to hold unanimously.
Then the radical of commissioners dove successful for months of meetings, calls and each the details involving schedule, vessel games, crippled sits, the world calendar and tv declaration complications. Three afloat months later, the committee of managers pushed done each the issues -- gross organisation was a large 1 -- until yet solving the Rose Bowl conundrum connected Wednesday night. The 12-team playoff volition commencement successful the 2024 season, meaning conscionable 2 much four-team playoffs -- this twelvemonth and adjacent -- earlier the sport's postseason changes indelibly.
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