No Expansion: College Football Playoff To Remain At Four Teams Through 2025
Feb 18, 2022, 9:04 AM | Updated: 11:42 am
A detail view of the College Football Playoff logo shown during a press conference on October 16, 2013 in Irving, Texas. Condoleezza Rice, Stanford University professor and former United States Secretary of State, was chosen to serve as one of the 13 members that will select four teams to compete in the first playoff at the end of the 2014 season. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — The College Football Playoff announced its postseason format will remain at four teams through the 2025 season after expansion talks failed.
College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock released the following statement on the decision to not expand:
“The CFP Board of Managers met via video conference yesterday, as a follow-up to a video meeting earlier this week conducted by the CFP Management Committee.
“The Board of Managers has accepted a recommendation from the Management Committee to continue the current four-team playoff for the next four years, as called for in the CFP’s original 12-year plan. At the same time, the Board expects the Management Committee to continue its discussions of a new format that would go into effect for the 2026-27 season.
“Even though the outcome did not lead to a recommendation for an early expansion before the end of the current 12-year contract, the discussions have been helpful and informative. I am sure they will serve as a useful guide for the Board of Managers and for the Management Committee as we determine what the Playoff will look like beginning in the 2026-2027 season.
“I thank the working group for its hard work that resulted in the 12-team proposal, and the Management Committee for its thorough and diligent job reviewing it and other possible expansion ideas. This has been a long, careful, and detailed process that involved many people considering a complex matter. I am grateful to everyone for their dedication to college football and the detailed and deliberative effort everyone put into the consideration of a different format. I know the four-team event will continue to be successful.”
Statement by Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff » https://t.co/4cmq3XtWIk #CFBPlayoff 🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/KzcEspe5Gh
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) February 18, 2022
The College Football Playoff first started in 2014 after taking over for the Bowl Championship Series. Since its inception, the Playoff has featured four teams that play in two semifinals games before the winners advance to the national title game.
Alabama of the Southeastern Conference has the most College Football Playoff appearances with seven and most victories with nine. SEC teams have won the national championship five times since 2014.
The Pac-12 Conference has appeared fewer times in the Playoff than any other Power Five league with only two appearances.
Last season, Cincinnati became the first non-Power Five and non-Notre Dame team to reached the College Football Playoff.
