Albuquerque-area fans will see 24-team college football playoff begin in 2027

College football fans in Bernalillo County will witness a major shift in the sport when the 2027 season begins. The College Football Playoff is expanding from 12 teams to 24 teams, a change that will alter the structure of the postseason and the regular season for schools across the country. This expansion takes effect starting next fall, meaning the first 24-team bracket will be played in the 2027-2028 academic year.

The new format includes five automatic bids. These spots are reserved for the winners of the four major conferences: the SEC, the Big Ten, the Big 12, and the ACC. The fifth automatic bid goes to the top-ranked team from a mid-major conference. A selection committee will choose the remaining 19 teams. In previous years, the committee picked only seven teams for the 12-team playoff. Under the new system, most of those 19 spots are expected to go to teams from the major conferences, including middle-of-the-pack programs that previously missed the cut.

The structure of the tournament will differ from the current 12-team model. The top eight ranked teams will receive a first-round bye. The other 16 teams will play a first-round game. To make room for this additional round of games, the four major conferences have agreed to end their conference championship games. These games have been a major event in college football for the last two to three decades.

Money is a central factor in this expansion. ESPN, the network that broadcasts the playoff, will reportedly pay hundreds of millions of dollars more each season for the extra games. This addition sits on top of a contract that is already worth more than a billion dollars. The network signed that original deal a couple of years ago. The new revenue helps schools cover rising costs in the sport.

Expenses in college football have increased sharply over the last two decades. Teams now pay players, which is a new cost. Coaching salaries have risen. Staffs have grown larger. Schools have invested more in facilities, recruiting, and travel. Many universities have had to raise millions of dollars annually from alumni and donors to keep up with these professionalization trends. The expanded playoff offers schools a wider path to the postseason, which may make it easier for athletic directors to justify the costs to donors.

NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan noted that the regular season used to be the primary focus of the sport. In that era, a team needed to go undefeated or have just one loss to have a chance at the national title. Every Saturday game felt high-stakes. The introduction of a four-team playoff in the late 1990s changed that dynamic. The shift to a 12-team playoff a few years ago continued the trend. The move to 24 teams cements the idea that teams can lose three or four times in the regular season and still have a shot at the championship.

This shift comes as television ratings for college football have dropped this year. Overall ratings are down by about 6 percent. Some networks have seen declines of 10 percent or more. Attendance figures have also raised concerns among broadcasters and school officials. Sullivan said this decline is driving worry that the sport is losing touch with what historically drove fan interest. She suggested the expanded playoff might continue to diminish the importance of the regular season.

For local fans, the immediate impact will be more teams playing in the postseason. The elimination of conference championship games will change the final weeks of the regular season. The influx of new television money will flow into the programs that participate in the expanded bracket. The first 24-team playoff will serve as a test of whether the sport can sustain its growing costs while maintaining fan engagement.