After years of resisting calls from fans, sports pundits and even President Barack Obama, key conference commissioners announced Thursday that they'd propose some variation of a college football playoff.

The leaders of numerous interscholastic athletic conferences -- including the Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern Conference -- and Notre Dame released a joint statement Thursday signaling its intentions following ongoing deliberations about postseason play in college football.

In it, they stated that an eight-team and a 16-team playoff were not going to happen because doing so would "diminish the regular season and harm the bowls." That refers to the existing system, in which winning top-level teams traditionally get the chance to play in one postseason bowl game after they've finished their regular season.

Yet the conference commissioners opened the door to a pared down playoff.

"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," the commissioners said.

The statement noted that ongoing topics of discussion, as they relate to the playoff proposal, include whether these extra games will occur on "campus sites or neutral sites," how they'd be incorporated into the present bowl structure and how teams would qualify.

"Our process is proceeding as planned, and we look forward to further conversations," the commissioners said.