The Big 12 and the Southeastern conferences have announced a deal that will pit their football regular-season champions against each other in a New Year's Day bowl game for five years beginning in 2014, positioning themselves for the expected switch to a four-team playoff.

In fact, SEC commissioner Mike Slive all but said that scenario is coming in Friday's announcement of the agreement between two of the most successful BCS conferences.

"A new January bowl tradition is born," Slive said in a statement. "This new game will provide a great matchup between the two most successful conferences in the BCS era and will complement the exciting postseason atmosphere created by the new four-team model.

"Most importantly, it will provide our student-athletes, coaches and fans with an outstanding bowl experience."

If one or both of the league champions are selected to play in the playoff, another team would be selected for the Big 12-SEC bowl showdown on Jan. 1.

The move will establish the equivalent of the Pac-12-versus-Big Ten Rose Bowl, minus nearly a century of tradition. Those two conferences have pushed for a new format preserving that matchup for the Rose Bowl, which Slive has indicated he doesn't favor.