The College Football Playoff is expanding from 12 teams to 24, under a new five-year television deal with ESPN worth nearly $1.7 billion, according to a report first published by ESPN. The expanded format is set to begin in 2027.
The agreement effectively spells the end of conference championship games for most of the sport’s major leagues, including the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC. ESPN has agreed to cover the financial costs associated with eliminating those title games to make room for the larger playoff field.
For Georgia sports fans, the change carries extra weight. The SEC announced that the 2026 SEC Football Championship Game, scheduled for December 5 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, will be the last one played.
“The Southeastern Conference announced today that the 2026 SEC Football Championship Game will be the final edition of the event,” the SEC said in a statement. “The decision coincides with the College Football Playoff’s expansion to a 24-team format. The 2026 SEC Football Championship Game, to be played on December 5 in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, will be the 35th edition of the game that began in 1992.”
The SEC title game has been held in Atlanta since the league began crowning a champion on the field in 1992, making it a long-running tradition for the city and the state. The Power-4 conferences have released statements regarding their title games, while the Group of Six conferences have not yet announced their plans.
The move comes after months of discussion between the CFP committee and ESPN over the pace of expansion. At one point, officials appeared to favor a gradual shift to 16 teams before eventually moving to 24. Instead, the sides agreed to jump straight to the larger field starting in 2027, following the national championship game that will close out the 2026 season in Las Vegas.
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban has publicly criticized the plan. Speaking on the New Heights podcast with the Kelce brothers, Saban argued the field is too large for a sport where only a handful of teams are true title contenders.
“Too many. There’s not 24 teams in the country that can win a National Championship,” Saban said. “So, what is the reason to actually do it? It’s about the money. What you’re giving up, which I hate to see, the SEC Championship Game, playing in the SEC Championship was a big thing for our players, it was a big thing to our fans. It was a tradition and it was a great venue. I mean, there’s only two teams who can play in a National Championship, but more teams can play in those kind of championship games. There’s a lot of pride in winning the conference championship.”
The expansion marks a rapid turn for the playoff, which had grown from four teams to twelve just three years ago. As recently as ten months ago, CFP leaders were reportedly discussing adding only four more teams to the field, not twelve.
Athletic departments nationwide have faced rising costs tied to the new era of name, image and likeness payments and revenue-sharing with athletes, giving conferences and universities added incentive to accept a larger television payday in exchange for altering decades-old postseason traditions.
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