ACC Coaches, ADs Back 24-Team College Football Playoff Expansion

ACC coaches, athletic directors in support of 24-team College Football Playoff expansion model

An ACC endorsement of the 24-team CFP would side with the Big Ten and Big 12 while putting major pressure on the SEC in future expansion talks

By Brandon Marcello

& Richard Johnson

May 12, 2026 at 6:25 pm ET • 2 min read

- - -

The ACC wants to double the number of teams in the College Football Playoff, and an official endorsement from the league could be made public soon, CBS Sports has learned.

The conference's coaches and athletic directors voiced their unanimous support for expanding the CFP to 24 teams during a joint meeting Tuesday at the conference's spring meetings outside Jacksonville. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips was also in attendance for the meeting, sources told CBS Sports.

The development comes on the heels of the American Football Coaches Association's push for a 24-team field last week, a format first proposed by the Big Ten last year. Conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, without the SEC's Greg Sankey, met during a White House presidential committee meeting earlier this spring and voiced their interest and support for a 24-team field.

The Big 12 also supports a 24-team field, commissioner Brett Yormark told CBS Sports on Tuesday.

"The Big 12 likes 24, subject to doing the work and figuring out the economics," Yormark said.

The development places pressure on the SEC, which has yet to move beyond public support for a 12- or 16-team format. The SEC's annual spring meetings with athletic directors, coaches and university presidents are scheduled to begin May 26.

The Big Ten and SEC share controlling interest in the playoff's format, and any decision on expansion must be reached in unison between the two most powerful conferences in college football. The two sides did not see eye to eye during expansion talks last summer and fall, leading to the CFP remaining at 12 teams for the upcoming 2026-27 season.

Athletic directors and commissioners are wrestling with how to replace the broadcast revenue tied to conference championship games, money that would disappear under a 24-team format, with new revenue from an expanded playoff field. The ACC is expected to present revenue projections for a 24-team format to athletic directors on Wednesday, sources told CBS Sports.

"I don't love those things going away," said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, "but I don't see any other path forward, because, again, you've got to shorten the season. You've got to move it up."

FBS coaches at the AFCA meetings raised concerns about the length of the season and the long layoffs facing playoff teams. Some sit three-plus weeks between the end of the regular season and a quarterfinal game after earning a first-round bye. The AFCA proposed expanding the playoff and starting the postseason the week after the regular season, the weekend currently reserved for conference championship games. Games would run through December, with the season ending by the second Monday in January, well ahead of next season's Jan. 25 title game.

Meanwhile, momentum is building to start the college football season one week earlier, in what is currently Week 0, the final week of August. The Division I FBS Oversight Committee recommended the earlier start to fit 12 games into 14 weeks. Most ACC coaches, though, prefer a schedule with only one bye week rather than two.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips is scheduled to speak to reporters on Wednesday at the conclusion of the conference's three-day session of meetings.

Richard Johnson contributed to this report.

Join the Conversation comments

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/acc-24-team-college-football-playoff-expansion/)._