The schedule for the first twelve-team College Football Playoff is official.
The CFP released the dates and times for all 11 games of the expanded playoff format on Wednesday. The first game will take place on Friday, December 20, one month before the national championship game on Monday, January 20.
The four first round matches will be played on December 20 and 21. The first match kicks off on Friday at 8:00 PM ET, while the three other matches take place on Saturday. TNT Sports will air the first two games on Saturday at 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM ET, while ABC will have the primetime game at 8:00 PM ET along with Friday’s game.
The rest of the games will be on ESPN. The first quarterfinal is the Fiesta Bowl at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday, December 31. Three quarter-finals will be played on New Year’s Day. The first game is the Peach Bowl at 1:00 PM, followed by the Rose Bowl in the traditional 5:00 PM slot and the Sugar Bowl at 8:45 PM ET.
The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl are the locations for the semi-finals this year. The Orange Bowl is at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, January 9. The Cotton Bowl is the same time the next day.
The two early first-round games on Saturday will go against two NFL games. The Kansas City Chiefs play the Houston Texans (1 p.m. ET), and the Baltimore Ravens play the Pittsburgh Steelers (4:30 p.m. ET) on December 21, as all four teams play on Wednesday, December 25 this season.
After a decade of four-team playoffs, college football leaders voted to expand the playoff to 12 teams for the 2024 season. The top five conference champions in the CFP rankings automatically qualify for the playoffs offs, while the remaining seven teams are chosen via the rankings.
The top four conference champions will host the top four seeds and advance to the quarterfinals, while the teams ranked Nos. 5 through 8 will host quarterfinal games in their home stadiums. The conference champions are assigned to the quarterfinals if possible through a long-term conference relationship, meaning it is likely the SEC champion will play in the Sugar Bowl and the Big Ten champion will likely play in the Rose Bowl.
The Jan. 20 national championship game is 12 days later than the national title game following the 2023 season. Michigan defeated Washington 34-13 to win the final four-team playoff on Jan. 8, 2024, after playing the semifinals on Jan. 1.
