BCS Commissioners Reach Consensus on Four-Team Playoff

The BCS commissioners settled on a plan for a four-team playoff to present to presidents. The BCS commissioners are backing a playoff plan with the sites for the national semifinals rotating among the major bowl games and a selection committee picking the teams.

The plan will be presented to university presidents next week for approval. If the presidents sign off, the major college football champion will be decided by a playoff for the first time starting in 2014.

"We are excited to be on the threshold of creating a new post-season structure for college football that builds on the great popularity of our sport," Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Wednesday.

"I think we're very unified," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said.

The commissioners refrained from providing specifics of the plan in their announcement.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott did say the two semifinals would be worked into the existing major bowls and the site of the national championship game will be bid out to any city that wants it, the way the NFL does with the Super Bowl.

The semifinals of the proposed plan would probably rotate among the major bowls and not be tied to traditional conference relationships.

"I am delighted," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. "I am pleased with the progress we have made. There are some differences, but we will work them out. We're trying to do what is in the best interest of the game."