( CNN ) -- For the first time in the history of NCAA Division I college football , there will be a playoff system , starting with the 2014-2015 football season . A group of 12 college presidents -- the Presidential Oversight Committee of the Bowl Championship Series -- approved a plan Tuesday for a four-team seeded football playoff . The deal is for 12 years and will go through the 2025 season . `` A four-team playoff does n't go too far , '' Virginia Tech President Charles Steger , chairman of the BCS committee , said . `` It goes just the right amount . We are very pleased with this new arrangement . '' The playoff system will replace the current -- and controversial -- Bowl Championship Series -- which began in 1998 . The new system will have two national semifinal games and a final . The teams will be selected by a committee . This plan is similar to how the NCAA men 's and women 's basketball tournaments are created . Despite the change , the bowl-game structure will still exist . `` It 's a best of both worlds result , '' Steger said . `` It captures the excitement of a playoff while protecting the best regular seasons in sports and also tradition of the bowls . '' Steger said that some issues -- such as access to nonplayoff bowls and financial distribution -- have not been finalized . Lower college football divisions -- the Football Championship Subdivision , Division II , and Division III -- already have playoff systems in place . The current BCS system uses human polls , computer rankings , and strength of schedule to match the top two teams in the country to play for the national championship , and the process has always been open to criticism . Even congressional representatives in the past have tried to make headway to change the BCS . In 2005 , Rep. Joe Barton , R-Texas , called for a hearing on the BCS before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee . No legislation results from the hearing . In 2008 , Reps. Neil Abercrombie , D-Hawaii , Lynn Westmoreland , R-Georgia , and Mike Simpson , R-Idaho , introduced what they called the NCAA Football Championship Equity Resolution , which stated that the BCS was unfair and a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . In 2009 , President Barack Obama reiterated his preference for a playoff system .
A 4-team football playoff for NCAA Division I will begin with the 2014-2015 season . The playoff system will replace the current -- and controversial -- Bowl Championship Series . There will be two national semifinal games and a final , with teams selected by a committee .