CFP provides update on negotiations with ESPN for expanded 24-team Playoff
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The College Football Playoff, at least for now, has an elite field of 12 teams that are battling this fall to be among the dozen who can compete for a national championship.
But there are potential changes on the way, and they are changes that could include expanding the exclusive field from 12 to 24 teams.
There are negotiations that are taking place between the CFP and ESPN that involve potential media rights for that potential 24-team field, and as Week 6 of the 2026 college football season kicked into high gear on Saturday, the College Football Playoff released a statement regarding those ongoing negotiations that could pave the way for Playoff expansion in the very near future.
Here is the CFP statement on those negotiations:
While Friday, October 9 marked the end of the exclusive 30-day negotiating period with ESPN, we continue to have ongoing discussions with ESPN regarding media rights connected to potential Playoff expansion to 24 teams. The dialogue throughout the window has been constructive, and we will carry these conversations forward with ESPN as we determine the path ahead. Given the confidential nature of these discussions, there isn’t more to share at this time. We will provide additional updates when appropriate.
While the confidentiality of the CFP’s current negotiations with ESPN and this week’s CFP statement on those negotiations leave a lot of questions to be asked that can’t be answered, what is undeniable is that expansion could very well be on the way and the road to that expansion is currently ongoing.
While the Playoff could potentially expand to 24 teams, right now the field is holding at 12 teams. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the best odds for those elite teams to qualify for that coveted 12-team field come December:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
