The College Football Playoff is staying at 12 teams for 2026.
The College Football Playoff announced Friday that it will remain a 12-team tournament for at least one more season despite discussions about expanding to 16 or more teams.
“After ongoing discussion about the 12-team playoff format, the decision was made to continue with the current structure,” College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark said in a news release. “This will give the Management Committee additional time to review the 12-team format, so they can better assess the need for potential change. While they all agree the current format has brought more excitement to college football and has given more schools a real shot in the postseason, another year of evaluation will be helpful.”
The decision to stay at 12 comes after the Big Ten and SEC – the two conferences that hold the power to determine the format of the College Football Playoff – failed to agree on a format for the next round of expansion. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has publicly called for a 16-team playoff, but Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti would only agree to it if the SEC committed to expanding again to 24 teams after three years, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
The Big Ten has pushed for a format in which each of the Power 4 conferences receives multiple guaranteed bids – with the Big Ten and SEC receiving more than the others – while the SEC is in favor of a 16-team playoff with just five guaranteed bids for conference champions and 11 at-large selections.
The two leagues - holding authority over expansion decisions - remain at an impasse over the next phase of expansion. The Big Ten prefers a larger field (24) with multiple AQs per conference; SEC prefers a more incremental step to 16 with 11 at-large selections.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 23, 2026
Discussions will continue regarding the possibility of expanding the playoff in future seasons, but Friday was the deadline for the CFP to expand for 2026.
As such, the CFP will remain at 12 teams for 2026, though the selection process will change slightly. Per a memorandum of understanding that was signed by the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame in 2024, each of the Power 4 conferences will be guaranteed one of the five automatic bids in 2026 – unlike the past two years, when the five highest-ranked conference champions could come from any of the 10 conferences – and Notre Dame will be guaranteed a berth if it is ranked in the top 12.
Had those changes been in place for the 2025 season, Notre Dame and Duke – the ACC champion – would have made the field over Miami, who finished as the national runner-up, and James Madison.
As in 2025, the top four teams in the final CFP rankings will receive first-round byes, while the No. 5 through the No. 8 seeds will host first-round games at campus sites. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be hosted by the CFP bowls, while the national championship game will be played in Las Vegas on Jan. 25, 2027.
2026 will be the third year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The CFP was expanded from four teams to 12 in 2024, with Ohio State winning the first 12-team playoff in 2024 after winning the first four-team playoff in 2014.
