The NCAA looks to be on the way to severely altering the calendar for the 2027 college football season cycle.
The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee announced on Thursday that it had drawn up proposals to change the FBS calendar starting next season. With the 2026 season arriving now, the potential approval of these proposals would still give schools, college football coaches and players time to adjust to the new reality that would exist for the 2027 season.
The Oversight Committee’s proposals are just that for now, with the sweeping changes only going into effect on Jan. 1 if the Division I Cabinet approves them at a meeting scheduled for Oct. 6 and 7.
Among the changes for the 2027 season would be a new FBS first-contest date in which the college football season would begin on the Thursday of what is currently known as Week 0. In conjunction with that, the season would end on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
This particular change would be a response to the recommendations by the FBS Calendar Subgroup, which earlier this year presented those recommendations to the committee to alter the regular season as well as the current off-campus recruiting model.
Those recommended changes to the off-campus recruiting model will likely be reviewed at that all-important October meeting by the Division I Cabinet. If the changes are approved, they would go into effect on Jan. 1.
Another in a series of changes would be to the preseason practice period, which would consist of 27 calendar days during which 21 practices could be held.
This effort to alter the college football calendar in 2027 was a collaborative one that was driven by the committee together with the American Football Coaches Association, which had recommended alterations to the calendar in June of 2025.
While the college football calendar is potentially altered for the 2027 cycle, there is a national championship to win in 2026. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the top teams in the mix to bring home the most important trophy of all next January:
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.
