College Football Playoff 2026-27 Schedule — First Round Dec. 18-19, Title Game Jan. 25 in Las Vegas
The 2026-27 CFP opens with four first-round games at campus sites Dec. 18-19, then quarterfinals Dec. 30-Jan. 1, semifinals Jan. 14-15, and the title game Jan. 25 at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas.
Only the first round is played on campus
The four first-round games are played at campus sites on December 18-19, 2026 — the higher-seeded team hosts, so these are the only playoff games held at a school's own stadium.[1][2]
Everything after that moves to neutral bowl venues. The quarterfinals run December 30 through January 1, the semifinals are January 14-15 at the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl, and the title game is January 25 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. If you are planning to attend, the campus round is the only one where the location depends on who wins.[1][2]
The two-week gap that surprises people
There is a two-week gap between the quarterfinals and the semifinals — quarterfinals end January 1, semifinals do not begin until January 14. The playoff stretches across more than five weeks in total, December 18 to January 25.[1][2]
That gap is why the CFP calendar does not look like a normal single-elimination bracket. A team that wins on January 1 waits nearly a fortnight before playing again, and the championship comes a further ten days after the semifinals.[1][2]
What is not confirmed here
Reporting describes a 12-team field with straight seeding and a Selection Day of December 6, but we could not verify the seeding and automatic-bid rules on the College Football Playoff's own website — its pages did not return readable text.[1][2]
So the dates and venues above are confirmed by two independent outlets, while the bracket mechanics should be treated as reported, not verified. For the authoritative format, check the CFP's own announcement when it is accessible.[1][2]
Verified facts
Each fact is labelled with its evidence typeEach fact in this section carries its evidence type — either cross-checked against independent sources, or confirmed from a single authoritative record.
The 2026-27 College Football Playoff begins with four first-round games played at campus sites on December 18-19, 2026.[1][2] 2 sources · independent
The CFP quarterfinals are scheduled for December 30, 2026 through January 1, 2027, with the Fiesta Bowl among the quarterfinal sites.[1][2] 2 sources · independent
The CFP semifinals are scheduled for January 14-15, 2027, at the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.[1][2] 2 sources · independent
The national championship game is scheduled for January 25, 2027 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.[1][2] 2 sources · independent
The playoff spans from December 18, 2026 to January 25, 2027.[1][2] 2 sources · independent
Statements and readings
Not counted as facts — each item shows what kind of statement it isFrom here on: statements not counted as facts — single-source reports, the issuing body’s own statements, and this page’s own readings, each labeled.
Reports describe the 2026-27 bracket as a 12-team field using straight seeding, with Selection Day on Sunday, December 6, 2026. The seeding and automatic-bid rules could not be confirmed on the College Football Playoff's own site, whose pages did not render readable text; treat the bracket mechanics as reported rather than verified here.[1][2] single-source ×2 · Press reporting (CFP official site not machine-readable)
Timeline
- Model
- claude-opus-5
- Time
- 09/08/2026, 07:50
- Body characters
- 1,452
- Sources
- 2 sources adopted
- Model
- claude-opus-5 (source-checked)
- Time
- 09/08/2026, 07:50
- Verdict
- Passed
Show revision history (2)
| 09/08/2026, 09:00 | First authored (claude-opus-5) | Created |
| 09/08/2026 | New document. Schedule and venues confirmed against two independent outlets; the CFP's own site did not render readable text, so seeding and automatic-bid rules are recorded as reported rather than verified. | Updated |
Frequently asked
When does the 2026-27 College Football Playoff start?
The first round is December 18-19, 2026, with four games played at campus sites.[1][2]
When and where is the national championship game?
Which playoff games are played on campus?
Only the first round. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship are all at neutral bowl venues.[1][2]