The College Football Playoff Management Committee announced Friday that the playoff format will remain at 12 teams for the 2026 season, according to CBS Sports.
The decision comes after Power 4 commissioners met Sunday morning but couldn’t reach agreement on expansion plans.
Two competing models were discussed during negotiations. The Big Ten favors expanding to 24 teams, while the SEC prefers 16 teams.
The Big Ten and SEC maintain voting control over the 10 FBS conferences and independents, creating a deadlock between the two approaches.
Competing Expansion Plans
The SEC’s 16-team model has backing from the ACC and Big 12. That plan would give the top 5 seeds to the highest-ranked conference winners.
The Big Ten’s 24-team proposal includes one automatic bid for the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion and 23 at-large bids.
Commissioners left the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach Sunday without providing details about their discussions.
“Still more work to do,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti told reporters as he walked past.
Committee’s Reasoning
Rich Clark, the College Football Playoff executive director, explained the decision to maintain the current format.
“After ongoing discussion about the 12-team playoff format, the decision was made to continue with the current structure. This will give the Management Committee additional time to review the 12-team format, so they can better assess the need for potential change.”
Clark added that officials agree the current format has brought more excitement to college football and given more schools a legitimate postseason opportunity.
Another year of evaluation will help determine if changes are needed.
The playoff format will remain unchanged for 2026 unless new information emerges or commissioners schedule another meeting to revisit expansion.
Every concluded college football playoff brings conversations about expansion, with teams wondering if they would’ve made a larger field.
For now, those discussions will continue for at least another year.
