BCS to consider four-team playoff

Hollywood, FL – The BCS will begin considering a four-team playoff.

Conference commissioners and the Notre Dame athletic director have been meeting this week in Florida to discuss changes to the current system of crowning a champion in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

On Thursday, a statement was issued detailing their talks and what could be presented.

"As part of our deliberations, we have carefully considered a number of concepts concerning the post-season structure for the BCS," the statement read. "From the start, we set out to protect college football's unique regular season which we see as the best regular season in sports. We are also mindful of the bowl tradition and seek to create a structure that continues to reward student-athletes with meaningful bowl appearances.

"Having carefully reviewed calendars and schedules, we believe that either an eight-team or a 16-team playoff would diminish the regular season and harm the bowls. College football's regular season is too important to diminish and we do not believe it's in the best interest of student-athletes, fans, or alumni to harm the regular season.

"Accordingly, as we proceed to review our options for improving the post- season, we have taken off the table both an eight-team and a 16-team playoff.

"We will continue to meet and review the exact structure for what a new post- season could look like. We are making substantial progress. We will present to our conferences a very small number of four-team options, each of which could be carried out in a number of ways.

"We have discussed, in detail, the advantages and disadvantages of in-bowl or out-of-bowl games. We have discussed in detail the advantages and disadvantages of campus sites or neutral sites. We have discussed in detail the advantages and disadvantages of various ways to rank or qualify teams.

"Our process is proceeding as we have planned and we look forward to further conversations."

The current system pits the top two teams in a convoluted formula that averages the percentage totals of the Harris Interactive poll, USA Today poll and computer rankings.

Many discussions in the past have centered around a lengthy playoff, similar to the one used in the Football Championship Subdivision. There has also been talk of a plus-one system, where the top two teams after the bowl games meet for the championship.

A four-team playoff could include the major bowl games on a rotational basis, with semifinals and a championship game among the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls. It could also be staged with semifinals at campus sites and one of the major bowl games hosting the championship game.

Any changes wouldn't go into effect until the 2014 season.