College Football Playoff

The College Football Playoff is the postseason event that determines the national champion for the Football Bowl Subdivision. The playoff was created to preserve the excitement and significance of college football’s unique regular season where every game counts. The postseason structure creates an exciting 12-team playoff that upholds the best regular season in sports and protects America’s rich bowl tradition.

The College Football Playoff is administered by the FBS conferences and the University of Notre Dame which are members of CFP Administration, LLC. The conferences manage the College Football Playoff National Championship and identify certain policies for the bowl games that host the CFP Quarterfinals and CFP Semifinals. To learn more about the governance of the playoff, click here.

The selection committee ranks the top 25 teams based on strength of schedule, head-to-head results against common opponents, championships won and other factors. The 12 schools selected to participate in the Playoff will be the conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The University of Notre Dame will be included in the playoff if it is ranked among the top 12 teams in the final rankings.

For more information on the selection committee, as well as individual bios, click here.

The format of the College Football Playoff is built on a 12-team bracket. The 12 schools selected to participate in the Playoff will be the conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The University of Notre Dame will be included in the Playoff if it is ranked among the top 12 teams in the final rankings.

The four highest-ranked teams will be seeded 1-4 and will receive a first-round bye. The remaining teams will be seeded 5-12 based on their final ranking. The eight teams seeded No. 5-12 will play in the first round with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds on campus. The four CFP Quarterfinals and the two CFP Semifinals will be played in bowl games, and a national championship game will be played in a different city every year, always on a Monday night.

The conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference automatically qualify for the Playoff. Every FBS team has equal access to the playoff based on its performance.

The 10 conferences and Notre Dame unanimously agreed in 2022 to modify the original four-team playoff to the current 12-team model. The playoff preserves the importance and excitement of the regular season, which is the most compelling in sports. It also maintains the tradition of bowl games, which are unique to the American sports culture. The agreement for the 12-team playoff extends through the 2025 regular season and 2026 national championship game.

To view future sites and schedules, click here.

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal and Playoff Semifinal games rotate among the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl Game, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl Classic, Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl.

In 2027, the national championship game will be played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. To learn more, click here.

The next three communities to host the College Football Playoff National Championship will be Las Vegas in 2027, New Orleans in 2028 and Tampa Bay in 2029.

The site of the College Football Playoff National Championship is determined through a negotiation process. Any city that demonstrates necessary facilities, transportation and other factors can be considered to host the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In 2012, it was announced that ESPN acquired the rights to broadcast all College Football Playoff games, as well as selected other games, through the 2026 national championship game. In 2024, the CFP and ESPN agreed to a six-year extension of those rights through the 2032 national championship game, including all additional first-round and Playoff Quarterfinal games beginning in 2024.

All FBS conferences and independent institutions receive revenue from the College Football Playoff under the revenue-distribution plan adopted unanimously by the board of managers. For full details on revenue distribution, please click here.