Sports
College Football Playoff to Expand to 24 Teams in 2027, SEC Championship Game Eliminated
The College Football Playoff will grow to 24 teams starting in 2027 under a five-year, $1.7 billion ESPN deal, while the SEC championship game is scrapped and Selection Sunday moves to Nov. 28, 2027.
The College Football Playoff will expand to 24 teams beginning with the 2027 season, a change that also eliminates the SEC championship game, according to details of a new agreement between ESPN and the playoff. The five-season deal is valued at nearly $1.7 billion.
The expanded bracket will include the four Power 4 conference champions, the highest-ranked Group of 6 team and 19 at-large bids. Selection Sunday for the 2027 season is set for Nov. 28, 2027, with first-round games involving seeds Nos. 9 through 24 beginning the second weekend of December.
The move marks another major step in the rapid growth of the playoff, which expanded from four to 12 teams in 2024. The SEC championship game, long a fixture of the conference's season, will no longer be played as the playoff absorbs more of the postseason calendar.
For Georgia and other SEC programs, the change alters the path to a conference title and a national championship. The Bulldogs won the 2025 SEC championship game against Alabama on Dec. 6, 2025, a game that will not have a successor under the new format.
The expanded field also raises questions about scheduling, player workloads and the value of conference championship games across the Power 4. The playoff's selection committee will now have 19 at-large berths to fill, increasing the importance of regular-season rankings and strength of schedule.
The deal with ESPN, first reported by ESPN's Heather Dinich, secures the playoff's media rights for five seasons. Financial terms were not fully disclosed beyond the approximately $1.7 billion total value.