College Football Playoff decides to double down and a 24-team playoff is set for next season

College football will expand its playoff to 24 teams beginning next year in a move that resets decades of tradition surrounding a once all-important regular season and dumps conference championship showdowns that used to be among the sport's marquee events. The announcement from the College Football Playoff and ESPN on Monday made official a deal that's been in the works for months. The network reported it would pay an additional $1.7 billion over five years on top of the original $7.8 billion contract that runs through the 2031 season. The new format will grant the Power Four conference champions automatic spots and give one more to the best team from the Group of Six. But that slot and the other 19 will be decided by a selection committee that will serve as the latest set of decision makers in college football's long history of polls and opinions having lasting impacts on teams' fates. Beginning next year, around 30% of college football's 68 power-conference schools will have a chance to play for the title, drawing the CFP closer to the NFL, which allows 43% of its teams into the playoffs. It leaves behind the last vestiges of yesteryear, when between four and eight teams entered December with a legitimate shot to win it all. Advertisement It's a seismic shift that even ESPN conceded comes with some question marks. The network pays billions to televise regular-season games that might — or might not — have more meaning under the new system. ''In all honesty, it's impossible to know for sure,'' ESPN senior vice president Nick Dawson said in a conference call. The revenue generated from the playoff expansion will presumably make up for the estimated $345 million the Power Four conferences generated in TV money for their title games. ESPN would then not be on the hook for $140 million of the extra money due to cancellation of the title games, the network reported. How an expanded CFP will work