CFP Plans For Normalcy this Fall, No Changes Expected to 4-Team Playoff

After its annual spring meeting, the College Football Playoff Management Committee said it "can't wait for what we hope will be a more typical season this fall."

Bill Hancock, the Executive Director of the CFP, said the CFP intends to return to the traditional pageantry of college football for the CFP games this year. 

“We are planning to have marching bands, cheerleaders, mascots and the rest of the wonderful traditions at the CFP games," Hancock said in a Friday news release. "We are optimistic, but, of course, everything will depend on the circumstances this fall.”

He also said stadium seating capacities will be determined by CFP in the fall, in conjunction with local health and safety officials.

He said the CFP semifinals will be at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl and Capital One Orange Bowl this season, and the 2022 CFP National Championship will be at LucasOil Stadium in Indianapolis.

“We have seen tremendous energy and enthusiasm in the work of the 2022 CFP – Indianapolis Host Committee,” Hancock
said. “Sports fans know about Indianapolis’s compact, walkable downtown, with the major hotels and venues within a
short distance of each other. It will be an ideal site for the 2022 championship.”

Hancock praised the Miami Host Committee — Hard Rock Stadium — and the cities of South Florida for staging this year’s game.

“COVID-19 didn’t allow the type of weekend atmosphere everyone wanted, but the people in Miami stepped up and provided an excellent event for the players, their families and other fans who did attend," he said.

The seating capacity at Hard Rock Stadium was approximately 14,000 for the 2021 CFP National Championship.

Hancock said the working group reviewing the structure of the playoffs continues to support in the four-team playoff as it is currently constituted.

The release states the working group reviewed some 63 possibilities for change, including 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 16-team options and informed the management committee that it continues its work and anticipates making a report to the management committee about the future format at an upcoming meeting.

“Since January 2019, when the presidents charged us with taking a careful look at all aspects of CFP, including the format,
this group has diligently evaluated options for the future," Hancock said. "Its efforts were delayed as a result of the pandemic, but it met
again this week in Dallas, and we look forward to hearing more when its work is complete."

Hancock said despite the group's recommendations, the future of the playoffs and future format changes is a decision the 11 presidents and chancellors who manage the CFP.

“We are entering the eighth year of our 12-year agreement for the College Football Playoff and the management committee is extremely satisfied with the popularity and success of the CFP,” Hancock said. “It is wise and good management to review where we stand as we discuss what the future might—'might,’ for emphasis--look like.”