When will the College Football Playoff expand again? Fans won't have to wait long

We won't be staying at a 12-team College Football Playoff very long.

It's already been widely reported that the College Football Playoff would likely be expanding to 16 teams, but the question is the timing. There were reports earlier this offseason that the playoff field could expand to include four more teams as early as 2026.

Now, as we get into the thick of the College Football Playoff Rankings, that's becoming more and more of a reality.

This past spring, ESPN and the College Football Playoff agreed to a new contract that will keep the playoff with ESPN through the 2031-32 season. The original playoff agreement is set to end after the 2025 season, so there has been speculation that our next big expansion could come in the 2026 season with a 16-team format.

ESPN reporter Peter Burns shared after the College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday night that he believes there is "a 99.8% chance" that the playoff expands for the 2026 season.

In his post on X, Burns shared that there is "no way" that we don't see expansion in the coming years. The only question: Will this happen by 2026?

It seems almost a foregone conclusion that the 12-team format will remain in effect in 2025, but leaders from the Power-4 conferences — particularly the SEC and Big Ten — are already pushing for expansion, and it's easy to see why.

The Big Ten has four teams ranked inside the Top-5, but the SEC has just three inside the Top-10. Right now, if the season were to end today, the Big Ten would have four teams in the College Football Playoff field and the SEC would have four teams. The remaining bids would include one ACC champion, one Big 12 champion, a Group-of-5 representative in Boise State, and Notre Dame.

It's easy to see why every conference would agree to expand. The SEC and Big Ten are already trying to stuff as many teams into the field as possible. The ACC and Big 12 are trying to get an at-large bid into the field, which doesn't seem likely with the 12-team format.

While there's no official confirmation yet, we would expect that fans won't have to wait all that long before the College Football Playoff expands again.

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