Orange Bowl gets semifinal, championship in 12-team playoff

The Orange Bowl will host a College Football Playoff semifinal the first year, plus a quarterfinal and the championship game the next year after college football moves to a 12-team playoff format for the 2024 season.

The CFP released on schedule Tuesday with the expanded format that will be used in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, which will feature New Year’s Day quarterfinal tripleheaders but no games played on Saturday.

On Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the Capital One Orange Bowl will host a semifinal game in the evening at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, in the first postseason with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

The next year, the Orange Bowl will host a quarterfinal game on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026 in the early afternoon, and Hard Rock Stadium will also be the site for the CFP National Championship on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026.

CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said last week after the board of managers had met in Dallas that the calendar had been decided upon. The final piece was placing games and sites on the dates.

For the 2024 season, the firstround games played at campus sites are slated to start with one Friday, Dec. 20. Three more games will be played on campuses on Saturday, Dec. 21.

The quarterfinals are scheduled to be held at bowl sites on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The Fiesta Bowl will be played on the night of Tuesday, Dec. 31. The Peach, Rose and Sugar bowls will host quarterfinal games on Wednesday, Jan. 1, played in that order.

The semifinals are set for Thursday night, Jan. 9, 2025, at the Orange Bowl and Friday, Jan. 10 at the Cotton Bowl. The championship game is scheduled for Jan. 20 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The CFP schedule for the 2025 season, with opening rounds are set from Friday, Dec. 19 and Saturday, Dec. 20.

The Cotton Bowl is set to be a quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s Day tripleheader will be at the Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls.

The semifinals are scheduled for the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, and the next day at the Peach Bowl. The championship game is set for Monday, Jan. 19 at Miami Gardens, Florida.

This upcoming season will be the last in which the CFP uses a four-team format.