The Faculty Soccer Playoff Board of Managers on Tuesday voted unanimously to revise the format of the 12-team occasion to incorporate the 5 highest-ranked convention champions and 7 at-large bids, finalizing an adjustment from the unique “6+6” mannequin.
The board, which is made up of 11 chancellors and presidents from every FBS convention plus Notre Dame, met just about on Tuesday to finalize the adjustment that was launched to account for the dismantling of the Pac-12 within the newest spherical of convention realignment. Washington State president Kirk Schulz, the Pac-12 consultant on the board, had been the lone holdout on the change throughout the board’s most up-to-date assembly.
The unique 6+6 mannequin, which was first launched almost three years in the past alongside the preliminary proposal to broaden to 12 groups, awarded the six highest-ranked convention champions automated Playoff bids. The following six highest-ranked groups obtain the remaining at-large bids.
“It is a very logical adjustment for the Faculty Soccer Playoff based mostly on the evolution of our convention constructions for the reason that board first adopted this new format in September 2022,” mentioned Mississippi State president and CFP Board of Managers chair Mark Keenum in a press release. “I do know this transformation may also be effectively obtained by student-athletes, coaches and followers. All of us might be happy to see this new format come to life on the sphere this postseason.”
Within the 12-team format starting with the 2024 season, the highest 4 convention champions obtain a first-round bye, with the No. 5 seed enjoying No. 12, No. 6 enjoying No. 11, No. 7 enjoying No. 10 and No. 8 enjoying No. 9. The 5-8 seeds will host the first-round video games at their respective faculties, and the New 12 months’s Six bowls (Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl) will host the quarterfinals and semifinals on a rotation. No convention champions routinely qualify for the sphere, and there’s no restrict to the variety of at-large bids a convention can earn.
The convention commissioners (and Notre Dame management) who make up the CFP’s Administration Committee will meet in individual in Dallas on Wednesday of their continued wrestle to agree on a number of key structural particulars for 2026 and past, when the CFP’s preliminary 12-year rights settlement with ESPN expires. ESPN has agreed to phrases with representatives for the Faculty Soccer Playoff on a six-year, $7.8 billion extension to televise the occasion via 2031-32, however CFP leaders nonetheless must vote on the deal for it to take impact.
(Photograph: Kirby Lee / USA At the moment)
