PASADENA, Calif. — Last month, the Big Ten’s influential commissioner, Jim Delany, endorsed discussions to expand the College Football Playoff, just five seasons into the format’s 12-year contract.

Expanding the four-team playoff to six or eight teams is likely to be a hot topic at the meetings many conferences will hold Monday, before that evening’s national championship game between Alabama and Clemson in Santa Clara, Calif.

“It’s probably a good idea, given all the discussions and noise around the issue, to have conversations with our colleagues,” Delany told The Athletic.

Delany might have ulterior motives — the Big Ten has now gone two seasons without getting a team into the playoff. But John Swofford, the Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner, echoed Delany last week in Arlington, Tex., before Clemson played in its fourth straight national semifinal.