The NCAA’s Division I council implemented a pair of FBS football changes Wednesday, including relaxed conference championship restrictions and elimination of signing class limitations, and the Pac-12 Conference took immediate action.

Starting in 2022, the two teams with the highest winning percentages will meet Dec. 2 in the Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas. Under previous rules, the winners of the North and South divisions met in the title game.

In a statement, the league announced the current schedule will remain in place for the 2022 season and subsequent scheduling scenarios will continue to be reviewed.

The change received unanimous support from the league’s head coaches, athletic directors and board of directors.

“Our goal is to place our two best teams in our Pac-12 Football Championship Game, which we believe will provide our conference with the best opportunity to optimize CFP invitations and ultimately win national championships,” Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff said in a release. “Today’s decision is an important step towards that goal and immediately increases both fan interest in, and the media value of, our Football Championship Game.”

Earlier in the day, the DI council approved the deregulation of the rule that limited an individual conference’s autonomy to determine championship game participants.

The change would have resulted in a different Pac-12 championship game matchup in five of the past 11 years.

The council also waived annual signing and initial counter limits for the next two academic years. Previously, schools were capped at 25 players per signing class. Now, FBS schools are allowed to provide aid based on the overall 85 scholarship roster limit.

The change comes after the one-time transfer exception and extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 significantly impacted the transfer portal.

Under the previous rule, programs that had signed the maximum number of players had no way of signing additional players if anyone entered the transfer portal. That one-year solution was set to expire July 1.

"Some schools hadn't given out all their scholarships and felt constrained by the annual limit," said Council chair Shane Lyons, athletics director at West Virginia, in a statement provided by the NCAA. "This temporary change provides schools more flexibility and adds opportunities for incoming and current student-athletes to receive aid."

Last fall the NCAA made a move to provide relief to programs that lost players through the transfer portal by allowing up to seven additional signings above the 25-man limit for the 2022 recruiting cycle.

All NCAA decisions will be finalized by the end of Wednesday’s meeting.