Report: College Football Playoffs Close to Expanding to 16 Teams

Just one year after having the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff, the leaders of the sport are looking to expand it even more.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger is reporting that expanding the College Football Playoff to 16 teams is gaining support, in particular from the leaders of the Big Ten and SEC.

Leaders of the power conferences met yesterday in New York to discuss future CFP formats. Reportedly, the format that has a ton of support is one in which the SEC and Big Ten receiving four automatic bids, the ACC and Big 12 receiving two bids while the Group of 6 would get one. There would also be three at-large spots.

Also, Dellenger reports that “inner-league play-in games” could happen at the end of the year. Under this scenario, this would put the third-place team in a conference against the sixth-place team, as well as the fourth-place team against fifth-place.

No final decisions were made Thursday, but many expect something to be announced in the coming months.

In terms of when all of this could start, ESPN’s Pete Thamel says that it could start in 2026, which is when the current playoff agreement with ESPN ends.