ESPN Secures Rights to the Expanded 24-Team College Football Playoff
ESPN will be the exclusive worldwide broadcaster of an expanded 24-team College Football Playoff, starting with the 2027-28 season. The deal runs through the 2031-32 season, according to Variety, which reported the agreement on November 9, 2026.
The current playoff has 12 teams and 11 games. Under the new deal, ESPN gets the rights to eight first-round games, eight second-round games, four quarterfinals, two semifinals and the national championship. That adds up to 23 games, twice as many as the 12-team version. (In a 24-team format, the first round is a set of games where the top seeds get a bye, so fewer teams play each week at the start.)
The agreement builds on a six-year deal between ESPN and the College Football Playoff, announced in 2024, that begins with the 2026-27 season. That earlier deal already covered the playoff's championship on ABC, alongside ESPN's MegaCast, a presentation that offers several ways to watch the same game, including alternative feeds and extra commentary.
Viewers will see more games on broadcast television. Beginning in 2027-28, ESPN will show at least three games from each of the new first and second rounds on ABC. The deal also allows ESPN to simulcast or megacast playoff games across all Walt Disney Company networks.
ESPN keeps the right to sublicense some playoff games, meaning it can let another broadcaster show them. Its existing arrangement with TNT Sports, announced in May 2024, continues. TNT Sports had been carrying select playoff games through that five-year sublicense.
The deal also keeps ESPN's exclusive rights to the shows that surround the games, such as pre-game and post-game programming. Disney's ad sales operation will remain the sole seller of the playoff's sponsor program, which is the package of advertisers that appear across the event.
Money is the other side of the story. Yahoo Sports reported on November 6, 2026 that the media rights deal would cover the nine-figure sums that the major conferences would lose if they gave up their conference title games to make room for the larger bracket.
The talks have been moving for a few months. In September 2026, the College Football Playoff opened a window for media rights discussions with ESPN, Reuters reported at the time. In October, the playoff said it was still in ongoing discussions with ESPN about rights tied to a possible expansion to 24 teams.
ESPN has been the home of the College Football Playoff since its debut in 2015. This agreement means that run continues for at least five more seasons under the larger format. For fans, the practical change is clear: more games, more of them on ABC, and a bigger playoff for teams to reach.
