It's official, and it's officially a playoff: A four-team playoff format was approved by a presidential oversight committee Tuesday. A group of 11 conference commissioners as well as Notre Dame's athletic director presented a panel of 12 college presidents, who determined college football's national champion will be determined by a playoff, starting with the 2014 season.
The location will be a rotation of six bowl games that will share hosting duties for the two semifinal games, and a neutral site for the title game. Those six bowls were not named, and currently only four bowls - the Fiesta, Rose, Sugar and Orange - are members of the BCS. Two more bowls will likely join that group in the rotation.
Among the details released at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening is that a selection committee, the makeup of which is to be determined, will choose the four teams without a requirement of a conference championship.
While Tuesday's announcement made the four-team, three-game playoff format official, there are many questions that have not been answered, specifically who the committee will be comprised of, how they'll select teams and how the revenue of the three-game playoff will be distributed.
The proposed deal will extend for 12 years, through the 2025 season, meaning the chance for an expanded field will have to wait for a long time.
For more news on the new college football playoff format, check out SB Nation's college football page.
