Expanded College Football Playoff Releases Finalized…

Expanded College Football Playoff Releases Finalized Schedule

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Fiesta and Cotton bowls drew the two New Year’s Eve kickoff slots as quarterfinals in the expanded College Football Playoff, while the Rose and Sugar are retaining their traditional kickoff times on New Year’s Day.

The CFP released its finalized schedule for the 2024 and ’25 12-team playoff on Tuesday, revealing bowl time slots and dates. CFP leaders agreed to the dates last week, something executive director Bill Hancock shared with reporters. But they did not unveil the bowl assignments for the first two years until Tuesday.

The Fiesta and Cotton bowls drew the New Year’s Eve slot in 2024 and ’25, respectively. The Rose Bowl retains its traditional late-afternoon kickoff, while the Sugar Bowl kicks off in the evening. The Orange Bowl (2024) and Fiesta Bowl (2025) will host Thursday night semifinals.

In 2024 and ‘25, respectively, the Cotton Bowl and Peach Bowl will host Friday night semifinals.

The bowl games will have a new look in an expanded playoff, with participating teams not expected to spend the traditional week-long stay at the site. Teams are expected to arrive two to three days before kickoff of the quarterfinals and semifinals.

In the new format, the four first-round games will be played on the third week of December at sites of the better seed (No. 12 at No. 5; No. 11 at No. 6; No. 10 at No. 7; No. 9 at No. 8). The New Year’s Six bowls—Peach, Rose, Fiesta, Cotton, Orange and Sugar—will host the quarterfinals and semifinals in a rotation. The quarters are played on New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day and the semifinals are played on Thursday and Friday the second week of January.

Teams will be ranked as the CFP selection committee does now to determine their seeding. The seeding, 1 through 12, will likely look different than the rankings. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1-4 and get a first-round bye to the quarterfinals, where committee members will slot them based on their league’s historic bowl relationships.

Schedules for the 2026 playoff and beyond are not complete. The CFP’s television contract with ESPN ends after the ’25 playoff, at which point a new deal will need to be struck. Commissioners are expected to begin working toward the next iteration of the playoff in the coming months. It is expected to remain the same 12-team format.

By the end of this year, CFP leaders hope to finalize a host of minutiae, mostly involved with the home first-round games, including standardizing ticket prices, visitor allotments, etc.