2024 School Soccer Playoff information: What to know in regards to the new 12-team format, at-large bids

The 12-team School Soccer Playoff period has formally begun, and with it, a number of particulars with which followers might want to familiarize themselves. Listed below are solutions to some incessantly requested questions in regards to the sport’s new postseason. Be at liberty to bookmark and reference as December attracts close to.

Why the brand new postseason?

For many of its century-plus existence, faculty soccer had a “legendary nationwide champion.” The game’s season champion was decided after groups performed in bowl video games by varied polls and rankings, which, after all, led to vital debate. In 1998, faculty soccer launched the often-controversial Bowl Championship Sequence, or BCS, which utilized a mixture of rankings and laptop methodology to make sure that its No. 1 vs. No. 2 groups met in a bowl recreation.

In 2012, leaders of the BCS authorised the School Soccer Playoff, which launched in 2014 as a four-team postseason knockout event. As a result of debate and controversy are on the soul of faculty soccer, it was determined that the four-team area can be chosen by a 13-person choice committee, comprised of varied convention commissioners and athletic administrators. And since solely 4 groups would make the postseason, one main Energy 5 convention would get overlooked.

The CFP upheld the status of the bowl video games round New 12 months’s Eve and Day and added the Peach and Cotton bowls to the slate to comprise the New 12 months’s Six, as they’re nonetheless known as. For a number of years the postseason carried on, till talks in earnest about enlargement picked up within the final three years. After many discussions about potential iterations, a 12-team postseason event was authorised in September 2022.

How will the groups be chosen for the 12-team area?

That 13-person choice committee, because it did within the four-team period, will rank its top-25 groups weekly, starting Nov. 5 and culminating on Dec. 8. The panel consists of present athletic administrators and faculty directors, and former coaches and gamers, all of whom are supposed to judge the groups based mostly on schedule power, head-to-head outcomes and their very own subjective opinions. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel is the brand new chairman.

The large distinction within the new format is that the committee’s 5 highest-ranked convention champions obtain assured berths. Whereas not set in writing, it’s presumed they may go to the ACC, Large Ten, Large 12 and SEC champions, in addition to the highest-ranked champion from the Group of 5 leagues (AAC, Convention USA, MAC, Mountain West and Solar Belt).

The opposite seven bids go to the highest-ranked groups that didn’t win their convention.

How will these 12 groups be slotted into the bracket?

The 4 highest-ranked champions will obtain the highest 4 seeds, no matter the place they fall within the rankings. If, say, the ACC champion is 10-3 and ranked No. 11 by the committee, and is ranked larger than a No. 14-ranked Group of 5 champion, it will not drop under the No. 4 seed. Conversely, if an SEC group is 12-1 and ranked No. 3 however misplaced within the convention title recreation, the best it could possibly be seeded is No. 5.

Seeds 1-4 can be extremely vital as a result of these groups have a first-round bye.

What about Notre Dame and different independents?

Independents can’t earn the next seed than No. 5, and subsequently can’t obtain a bye.

How do Washington State and Oregon State make the Playoff?

“The Pac-2” aren’t eligible for a convention championship. The Cougars and the Beavers should end the season ranked excessive sufficient for an at-large berth.

When and the place will the primary spherical be?

The convention championships this season can be performed throughout Dec. 6 and Dec. 7. The primary spherical can be held two weekends later, with one recreation on Friday, Dec. 20 (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN), and three on Saturday, Dec. 21 (Midday and 4 p.m., ET on TNT, 8 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN).

This would be the solely spherical with video games performed at campus stadiums. With the top-four seeds on byes, the No. 5 seed will host the No. 12 seed, No. 6 hosts No. 11, No. 7 hosts No. 10 and No. 8 hosts No. 9.

Will these be extra like a daily house recreation or an NCAA event venue?

Undoubtedly the previous. CFP govt director Richard Clark mentioned visiting groups will solely obtain round 3,500 tickets. “We would like it to really feel like a house recreation,” he mentioned. “You (the upper seed) earned that chance.”

Given the short turnaround between Choice Sunday and the primary video games, the CFP has already booked lodge blocks for the visiting group close to FBS colleges with a practical shot of internet hosting and can launch rooms as groups fall out of competition.

Will the bracket be reseeded after the primary spherical, like within the NFL?

No. The No. 1 seed will play the 8-9 winner, the No. 2 seed will play the 7-10 winner, the No. 3 seed will play the 6-11 winner and the No. 4 seed will play the 5-12 winner.

It’s very doubtless the No. 5 seed, the most effective of all of the at-large groups, can be a higher-ranked group than the No. 4 seed, itself both the lowest-ranked Energy 4 champion or the Group of 5 champion.

When and the place will the quarterfinals be performed?

The 4 quarterfinal video games and each semifinals can be performed at present New 12 months’s Six bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, Cotton and Peach). As within the four-team period, the bowls will rotate internet hosting the semifinal matchups.

This 12 months, the Fiesta (Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ET), Peach (Jan. 1, 1 p.m.), Rose (Jan. 1, 5 p.m.) and Sugar (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET) are the 4 quarterfinal hosts.

How do they determine which groups play by which bowls?  

Each time potential, the groups can be assigned to their convention’s conventional bowl associate. If the SEC or Large 12 champion is the No. 1 seed, it can go to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the Large Ten champion to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The others can be slotted based mostly on geographic proximity.

For instance, if the No. 3 seed is nearer to Atlanta than Glendale, Ariz., it will likely be positioned on the Peach Bowl, after which the No. 4 seed heads to the Fiesta.

Will the groups nonetheless expertise a standard bowl week?

Sadly, the times of groups spending per week in L.A. earlier than the Rose Bowl, consuming Lawry’s Beef and gallivanting at Disneyland, could also be over. They’ll arrive on the quarterfinal websites on Dec. 29, observe on the thirtieth, maintain a walk-through on the thirty first and play the video games on Jan. 1. The semifinal stays can be someday shorter than that.

When are the semifinals?

The semifinals are Jan. 9 (Orange) and Jan. 10 (Cotton), each on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET. With the NFL’s six-game Wild Card spherical that weekend, the CFP had little selection however to play on a Thursday and Friday evening.

Is there any likelihood they’ll finally transfer the quarterfinals and semifinals to campuses?

Unlikely within the close to future. Earlier this 12 months, ESPN and the CFP agreed to a six-year, $7.8 billion extension that runs by the 2031-32 season. Whereas the long-form contract has not but been finalized, it’s anticipated to incorporate the identical six bowls.

“We’re dedicated to our bowl companions,” mentioned Clark. “They’re as a lot part of faculty soccer as something.”

One potential wrinkle after the present contract ends in 2026: The Rose Bowl has requested to be overlooked of the semifinal rotation going ahead in favor of protecting its conventional New 12 months’s Day time slot. If granted, it will host a quarterfinal yearly.

When is the nationwide championship recreation?

The title recreation can be performed on a Monday evening, because it has since 2006 — solely it’s now two weeks later. This 12 months’s nationwide championship is at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and can be performed on Jan. 20, 2025 (7:30 p.m., ESPN). Subsequent 12 months’s is on Jan. 19, 2026, at Exhausting Rock Stadium in Miami. Places past that haven’t been introduced.

How do they divide up the cash?

This 12 months and subsequent fall below the CFP’s unique 12-year take care of ESPN. In 2023-24, the distribution was $82.2 million for every of the Energy 5 conferences, a mixed $103 million cut up among the many Group of 5 leagues, $3.9 million to Notre Dame and $940,000 to the opposite independents.

With the demise and fallout of the Pac-12, the CFP adjusted the system so that every convention’s per-school common stays roughly the identical.

Will the event increase to 14 groups subsequent?

The potential of an expanded bracket got here up earlier this 12 months when the commissioners met to debate whether or not to log out on the ESPN extension. Particularly, Large Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti was advocating for extra groups. These discussions have been “tabled” till after this 12 months’s Playoff.

“After we see how this season goes, we’ll have a look at lots of various things,” mentioned Clark. “The 14-team Playoff is simply an possibility, however we simply should see how the 12 goes.”

In different phrases, chances are you’ll want one other primer in two years’ time.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic)