College Football Playoff 2024 schedule: New 12-team event to headline historic December, January run in sport

The College Football Playoff announced Wednesday the dates, kickoff times and television assignments for the 2024-25 postseason, setting the stage for the first year of its 12-team format with an 11-game schedule. A month-long playoff creates a postseason unlike any the sport has ever seen, and in addition to the expanded national championship race, the sport also promises to generate another hectic postseason with the early signing period for high school recruits in the 2025 class and winter transfer portal window running adjacent to some of the biggest games of the year.

ESPN holds exclusive broadcast rights for the CFP and will televise the majority of playoff games this season, but it also sub-licensed two first-round games to TNT Sports. The opening round, which features for the first time a set of on-campus matchups, kicks off Friday, Dec. 20 on ESPN/ABC. TNT has a pair of first-round games the following day, and ESPN/ABC concludes the slate in the evening time slot.

Traditional New Year’s Six bowls host the quarterfinals and semifinals, which run Dec. 31-Jan. 1 and Jan. 9-10, respectively. All of those games, in addition to the Monday, Jan. 20 national championship, will be televised on ESPN.

Playoff expansion pits college football directly up against the NFL. The Dec. 21 first-round games run the same day as two NFL matchups, and the CFP scheduled all of its quarterfinal, semifinal and national championship games on weekdays so as to avoid competition with pro broadcasts.

College football’s historic 2024 season brings numerous changes to the sport’s structure, and in addition to the adjustment period that comes with this offseason’s conference realignment, the months of November, December and January figure to require a bit of acclimation. That stretch will be a wild ride for college football with rivalry weekend, conference championship games, the early signing period, the winter transfer portal window, College Football Playoff action and other bowl games all running in near conjunction with each other.

The recruiting calendar only adds to the mayhem of postseason college football, as the early signing period and first transfer portal window run through December. The Collegiate Commissioners Association, which manages the National Letter of Intent program, announced earlier this offseason it will move the early period up three weeks from its former dates starting with the 2025 recruiting cycle. As such, prospects can begin to sign with their destination programs on Dec. 4 — midway between college football’s rivalry week and conference championship games.

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The transfer portal is open for 30 days beginning the Monday after conference championship games, so coaches must again balance roster retention and recruiting with their preparation for bowl games and playoff matchups.

Key 2024 college football postseason dates:

Dec. 4-6: Early signing period (2025 high school recruits)

Dec. 6-7: Conference championship games

Dec. 9-Jan. 7: Transfer portal window

Dec. 20-21: CFP first round

Dec. 31-Jan. 1: CFP quarterfinals

Jan. 9-10: CFP semifinals

Jan. 20: CFP national championship

TBA: Bowl season