The College Football Playoff semifinals will take place two weeks after the quarterfinals next January.
The CFP announced the dates of the semifinals for each of the next two seasons on Tuesday after college football’s leaders could not come to an agreement to expand the playoff beyond 12 teams nearly two weeks ago.
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The playoff will stay at 12 teams for a third season in 2026 and could expand for the 2027 season … if there’s consensus on how that expansion should take place.
Next season’s national title game in Las Vegas has long been set for Jan. 25, over three weeks after the quarterfinals on New Year’s Day. Because of that gap, the semifinals will take place on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15 at the end of the 2026 season.
The schedule is even more strung out than it was at the end of the 2025 season because of when New Year’s Day falls and college football’s insistence on having the title game on a Monday night. New Year’s Day is on a Friday in 2027 and on a Saturday in 2028.
With the semifinals now taking place on a Thursday night and a Friday night, a team that played on New Year’s Day would have less than a week to prepare for a semifinal game on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2027. And holding the semifinals the week after New Year’s would create a break of over two weeks before the national title game.
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In 2028, the semifinals will be on Jan. 13 and Jan. 14 ahead of the national championship game on Jan. 24 in New Orleans.
Here’s how the schedule will unfold over the next two seasons. It’s important to note that there will not be a quarterfinal game on New Year’s Eve in 2026, as the first quarterfinal will be on Dec. 30 before three games on Jan. 1. With Super Bowl LXI scheduled for Feb. 14, the upcoming New Year’s Eve is set to be ahead of Week 17 of the 2026 NFL season. It’s probable that the NFL will have a Thursday night game scheduled for New Year’s Eve.
2027 CFP games
Quarterfinals
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Jan. 1: Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl
Semifinals
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National championship game
2028 CFP games
Quarterfinals
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Jan. 1: Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl
Semifinals
National championship game
