Inaugural 12-team CFP schedule set to avoid NFL playoffs

By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer

The first-round games of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff will be played on Friday night and Saturday of the third week of December 2024. The semifinals will be played in early January on weeknights to avoid conflicting with the NFL playoffs. CFP executive director Bill Hancock confirmed a calendar that had already become apparent when the decision to expand was finalized last December. The 10 conference commissioners who make up the College Football Playoff management committee held their spring meetings in Dallas this week. The upcoming season will be the last in which the College Football Playoff uses a four-team format.