First of all: Before we go on, don't get too excited, because it's nothing official or anything. But yeah, when perennial playoff opponent Jim Delany said earlier this year that he may actually be open to the idea of a four-team bracket, it turns out he wasn't just blowing smoke. Per theChicago Tribune (emphasis added):
The Big Ten is not only ready to listen to proposals regarding a national four-team football playoff, league and school officials are kicking around an intriguing idea.
Sources told the Tribune that a Big Ten plan would remove the top four teams from the BCS bowl pool and have semifinal games played on the college campus of the higher seed. That would do away with the facade of "neutral" sites such as New Orleans, Miami and Pasadena, Calif., and ease travel concern for fans.
The championship game then could be bid out, like the Super Bowl.
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"We have to listen to the fans; we cannot be tone-deaf," said Northwestern athletics director Jim Phillips, who chairs the Big Ten's Administrators Council. "The Big Ten is open and curious."