College Football Playoff moving from four teams to 12

The Faculty Soccer Playoff will likely be altering in an enormous means.

The CFP Board of Administrators made the choice on Friday to extend the variety of groups within the postseason match from 4 – to not eight, as some had been anticipating, however 12.

“That is an historic and thrilling day for school soccer,” mentioned Mississippi State President Mark Keenum, the chairman of the board. “Extra groups, extra participation and extra pleasure are good for our followers, alumni, and student-athletes.”

The Faculty Soccer Playoff will likely be including eight groups.

Getty Pictures

The brand new-look postseason will go into impact no later than 2026, although The Put up’s Zach Braziller studies the purpose is for it to start out as quickly as 2024.

In what was a unanimous vote, the group moved ahead with the unique 12-team proposal tha will see a subject made up of the six highest-ranked convention champions and 6 at-larges.

The highest 4 seeds can be convention champions and obtain byes into the second spherical. First-round video games can be performed on campus and the remaining at bowl websites.

A 12-team, 11-game postseason system to crown a champion might be value as a lot as $2 billion in media rights to the conferences that play main school soccer, beginning in 2026.

If the brand new format may be carried out earlier than the present 12-year contract with ESPN expires after the 2025 season, the conferences may make a further $450 million over the ultimate two years. The present deal pays about $470 million per yr.

Past 2025, there isn't a TV contract for a playoff. The plan is to take the brand new format to the open market and contain a number of TV companions as an alternative of simply ESPN.

There are nonetheless points to be hammered out by the convention commissioners who comprise the CFP administration committee, which is scheduled to satisfy subsequent week.

The most important query is whether or not the logistical hurdles similar to dates of video games, host websites, out there tv home windows and affect on the regular-season schedule may be sorted although rapidly sufficient for a brand new playoff to be up and operating by 2024.

— With AP