The College Football Playoff Agrees To Six-Year, $1.3 Billion Annual Contract With ESPN

by Staff Reporter

March 20, 20244 Comments

James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday, ESPN released a press release announcing that the network and the College Football Playoff have agreed to a six-year contract extension through the 2031-32 season.

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-ESPN Retains Exclusive Worldwide Rights to All Rounds of the Expanded College Football Playoff, the Second Largest Annual Sporting Event in the U.S.

-Starting in 2026-27, the College Football Playoff National Championship Will Be Broadcast on ABC in Addition to ESPN’s Signature MegaCast Presentation

-Extension Includes Broad College Football Playoff Distribution Rights for Walt Disney Company Linear and Direct-to-Consumer Platforms and Offerings, Expanded Sales and Sponsorship Program for Disney Advertising

ESPN and the College Football Playoff (CFP) have reached a pair of media agreements that ensures ESPN will continue as the exclusive, worldwide rightsholder to college football’s premier postseason event through the 2031-32 season. The exclusive home of the CFP since its inception in 2015, ESPN will expand its current package for the final two years (through the 2025-26 season), adding all four of the new First Round games each year to ESPN’s existing New Year’s Six (now Quarterfinals and Semifinals) and the CFP National Championship rights in the new 12-team playoff that will launch this Fall.

In addition, ESPN has secured a new, six-year agreement – beginning in the 2026-27 season – for the entire CFP, which includes exclusive rights to all rounds of the expanded playoff – first round, quarterfinal, semifinal and National Championship, as well as continued exclusive rights to all ancillary programming connected to the playoff, such as the CFP Selection Show, weekly Top 25 Rankings Shows and more.

In both the amended two-year agreement and new six-year extension, the CFP provides ESPN with the right to sublicense a select number of games. Read more.

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Ross Dellenger or Yahoo Sports reported that the new deal is worth$1.3 billion annually.

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The new television contract with ESPN is a six-year extension through the 2031 playoff and will pay the CFP $1.3 billion annually — about three times the amount the network distributed for the four-team version. Those figures were reported by ESPN itself in a story in January.

A playoff format is not expected to be finalized until a later date, though protections and guarantees related to a 12- or 14-team format are part of the agreement. The champions of the four major conferences and the highest ranked Group of Five champion will earn an automatic qualifying spot into any playoff.