According to several reports, including this one from CBS College Football expert Dennis Dodd, the commissioners and athletic directors of the five major conferences have agreed in principle to a four team college playoff which would take effect following the end of the current BCS deal with ESPN in 2014.

Reportedly, the plan will use a committee to seed a four team playoff following the conference championships are completed, with the semi-final games going to current BCS bowls and the National Championship being given to the highest bidding city/stadium.

As we talked about earlier this week, the PAC 12 and Big TEN oppose this type of playoff in favor of a plus one system or a conference champion playoff. But, this first iteration of the college football playoff appears to be a compromise between the leagues, where a committee will select the four best teams but will also give heavy favor to the conference champions over at-large teams.

The plan will have to be approved by University Presidents at their annual conference next week in Washington, D.C. It is expected they will do so.

Ultimately, it appears the PAC 12 and Big TEN are planning on pushing for version 2.0 of the playoff to include eight or 16 teams, including all conference champions and at-large teams. The smaller leagues would also like to see games played at hosting teams stadiums, an idea opposed by the Big 12 and SEC.