The 2024 college football season will be the first to feature a 12-team format to be utilized to determine a national champion, with plans announced from the College Football Playoff for quarterfinal tripleheaders on New Year’s Day, but no games to be played on that Saturday.
Executive Director of CFP, Bill Hancock, has verified that a calendar is decided upon, however, games and sites on the dates was the final piece of the puzzle for the Board of Managers, who had recently met in Dallas.
First-round games in the playoff will be played at campus sites with a contest on Friday, December 20th, followed by three more contests on Saturday, December 21st. Bowl sites would host the quarterfinals on both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The Fiesta Bowl is slated for December 31st, with the Peach, Rose, and Sugar Bowls all on January 1st.
The semifinal round is set for Thursday, January 9th at the Orange Bowl and Friday, January 10th at the Cotton Bowl, with the national championship game on Monday, January 20th at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The upcoming 2023 college football season will be the last to utilize a four-team postseason format to decide a national champion.
