The College Football Playoff announced Monday that it will expand from 12 to 24 teams in 2027, ending championship games in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC as part of a new five-year ESPN media-rights deal.

The first two playoff rounds will use on-site hosts before the quarterfinals shift to neutral-site New Year’s Six bowls. ESPN will remain the CFP’s exclusive broadcast partner.

Every Power Four fan base gets a wider route into the postseason. Teams that keep advancing also will take on more games and more injury exposure.

CFP executive director Rich Clark acknowledged Monday that fans had objected to expansion.

> “We’re aware of the fan sentiment and that many fans aren’t in favor of expansion, but that was certainly weighed into the decision,” Clark said. “It was considered, but ultimately, we just need to make a spectacular playoff.”

The CFP has not released the 24-team bracket, seeding system or qualification rules. It also has not said whether the four conferences will replace their championship games with another postseason event.

The field doubles from 12 teams to 24 while four Power Four championship games disappear. That trades a set of conference races culminating in December for a larger national tournament, with more teams playing postseason football and fewer chances to win a conference title game.

The SEC has staged a championship game since 1992, and the ACC added one in 2005. Those games were not part of most of college football’s history.

Nick Saban, whose seven national championships came at Alabama and LSU, questioned whether the expanded field adds contenders equal to what the sport gives up.

> “There’s not 24 teams in the country that can win the national championship. So, what is the reason to actually do it? … What you’re giving up, which is what I hate to see, is, you know, the SEC championship game, playing in the SEC championship was a big thing to our players, it was a big thing to our fans. It was a tradition, and it was a great venue.”

Saban also has raised concerns about the added workload for players. The final bracket will determine exactly how many games a team must play to win the national title, but the path now includes two on-site rounds before the New Year’s Six quarterfinals.

The change also reshapes where ESPN spends its postseason money. The five-year agreement reportedly is worth nearly $1.7 billion. Eliminating the Power Four championship games allows ESPN to recoup $140 million annually in broadcast-rights costs, while the network will pay an additional $345 million per year on average for the expanded playoff.

The CFP and ESPN are moving premium inventory from four conference-controlled championship windows into a larger CFP-controlled tournament. More playoff access is the football change; the rights deal helps explain why it arrived alongside the end of the title games.

Clark praised ESPN in a statement announcing the agreement.

> “The promotion, storytelling and innovation ESPN brings to the CFP, college football fans and the sport in general, is second to none,” Clark said. “We know that level of excellence will continue as we embark on this journey to a 24-team format.”

The first answer is the bracket. Fans need to know how teams qualify, how the CFP treats conference champions and how it awards home games in the first two rounds.

Then comes the effect on conference races. Without title games in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, regular-season standings will carry the entire burden of deciding conference outcomes unless those leagues add replacement events.

The expanded playoff begins in 2027. Until the CFP supplies the rules, the sport knows the cost of the deal more clearly than the route through it.