The College Football Playoff reached a "handshake agreement" with ESPN to broadcast a 24-team playoff beginning in the 2027 season, sources told ESPN on Friday.
Though there is still significant work to be done on paper, and everything is still subject to board approval across all involved parties, the agreement is a major step closer to doubling the postseason path to the national title for next year.
The CFP and ESPN have been negotiating a new deal for the network to remain its broadcast partner in a seismic move that is also expected to eliminate the lucrative Power 4 conference championship games and start the season a week earlier.
Though final details have yet to be announced, discussions about the 24-team field have included 19 at-large bids, the Power 4 conference champions as determined by each league, plus the highest-ranked Group of 6 team.
Also on Friday, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel that the average additional payment that ESPN will pay for the expanded playoff is $345 million annually for the next five years. That is in addition to the average of $1.3 billion annually over that time ESPN is already paying.
The New Year's Six bowls (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Peach, Orange and Cotton) are expected to still host the quarterfinals and semifinals, with the national championship game remaining in January. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, whose conference has been the driving force behind the 24-team model, has pushed back against the notion that it will devalue the regular season, saying the system includes "tiered incentives."
Under the proposed plan, teams seeded Nos. 1-8 would earn a first-round bye followed by a home game. (The No. 1 seed would face the winner of No. 16 vs. No. 17, and the No. 2 seed would face the winner of No. 15 vs. No. 18).
Teams hovering around No. 17 and No. 18 would be trying to move up so they can host a first-round home game (awarded to those seeded Nos. 9-16), while teams ranked toward the bottom would constantly be trying to stay in the field or protect their spot.
The historic change to the sport's postseason is expected just two seasons after the field tripled from four to 12 teams. In March 2024, ESPN and the CFP agreed to a six-year, $7.8 billion contract that ensured the network would remain the sole media rights holder of the event through the 2031-32 season. Multiple sources have said the current framework for the amended deal is a five-year agreement that is the same duration as the existing deal.
On Sept. 9, ESPN and the CFP entered a 30-day negotiation window to determine the value of a 24-team field. The window closed Oct. 9, but discussions continued through this week.