In November 2022 ESPN’s Michael Rothstein sat down with EA Sports’ Vice President and General Manager, Daryl Holt. It was a wide ranging interview covering the release date, what schools would be in the game, and which game modes to expect.
Amid all of the information, it would be easy to overlook 16 words buried in the middle of the article.
“The game has secured the rights to all 10 FBS conferences and the College Football Playoff.”
Daryl Holt – EA Sports General Manager
That’s a very big deal especially when you consider that EA Sports College Football 25 will be released right before the 2024 college football season.
What other huge event coincides with the 2024 college football season? You guessed it, the expanded 12 team college football playoff.
For the past 10 years, the College Football Playoff was a pretty basic 4 team tournament. The selection committee ranks each football team and the top 4 schools go on to play in a single elimination tournament.
In the new playoffs starting in 2024, the top four conference champions will get an automatic spot. Then six at-large bids will be awarded followed by the two highest-ranked remaining conference champions getting the final spots.
The top 4 seeds will get a first round bye while the other 8 teams battle for the right to face one of the top 4 in the next round.
For the 2024 year, the first round will take place on or around Saturday, December 21, 2024. The higher seeded team will have home field advantage.
The quarterfinals and semifinals don’t have dates set yet. The quarterfinals will be played at the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The semifinals will be played at the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl.
The national championship will take place on Monday, January 20th, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.
The new playoff structure will be included in EA Sports’ College Football 25 video game making your virtual post-season more exciting than ever before!
