ATHENS — The College Football Playoff management committee took a peek into the future where the potential for expansion was concerned but remains committed to the four-team model.

Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, also said he envisions the CFP getting back to the norm this year after the COVID-19 pandemic limited crowds and traditions and altered schedules.

“We are planning to have marching bands, cheerleaders, mascots and the rest of the wonderful traditions at the CFP games,” Hancock said in the CFP release. “We are optimistic, but, of course, everything will depend on the circumstances this fall.”

The management committee was holding its scheduled meeting virtually to discuss its initial plans for the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game. This year’s championship game will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis this year.

The CFP Semifinals will be at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas, and the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla.

The possible future expansion of the playoffs has remained a popular topic of discussion, even while the current contract calling for a four-team playoff has five years remaining.

The CFP committee received a briefing at its remote two-day meeting this week from a four-person working group charged “considering options for the future format of the playoff for the management committee’s review.”

Hancock, in the CFP release, said the working group made it clear “it continues to support and believe in the four-team playoff as it is currently constituted.”

Per the release, the working group reviewed 63 different possibilities for change once the current contract expires. Among the possibilities discussed were 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 16-team playoff options.

There will be another report on the potential changes for future formats at an upcoming meeting.

“I want to remind everyone that whatever recommendations the management committee may make, all decisions about our future format—whether to remain at four teams or change to a different format—will be made by the 11 presidents and chancellors who manage the CFP,” Hancock said, also reminding everyone the current contract is only in the eighth year of a 12-year agreement.

“The management committee is extremely satisfied with the popularity and success of the CFP,” Hancock said. “It is wise and good management to review where we stand as we discuss what the future might—’might,’ for emphasis–look like.”

Hancock was even more direct in an ESPN story pushing the expanded playoff narrative.

“There will not be a new format this season or next season,” Hancock said in the ESPN story. “The timetable is certainly an important detail, but it hasn’t been determined yet.

“It’s too soon to predict the timing, but even if the board decides to alter the format, it may well not occur until after the current agreement has expired, which isn’t until after the 2025 season.”