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Next year's NFL playoffs may include 7 teams per conference
The Week ^ | February 19, 2020 | Kathryn Krawczyk

Posted on 02/20/2020 5:35:40 PM PST by EdnaMode

The NFL is reportedly getting ready to make some big changes.

Under a new collective bargaining agreement that NFL owners are pushing for, each team would reportedly add another game to its annual schedule to make a 17-game regular season. And at the end of the season, seven teams would make the playoffs from each conference, up from the usual six that make it right now, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports.

NFL owners and players have been meeting this week to discuss changes that, if agreed upon, would take effect in the next couple years. To start, a seventh team from each conference would make the playoffs, meaning only one team from each conference would get a first-round bye. "That's been agreed to for a long time," one source familiar with the CBS talks told ESPN regarding the playoff change. If the new CBA is ratified in time, that change would go into effect for the upcoming 2020-21 season.

Still reportedly being negotiated is the 17-game regular season that owners are proposing, while one game would be subtracted from the preseason, leaving each team with three warmup games, Schefter reports. That change reportedly wouldn't take effect until at least the 2021-22 season.

A vote on the CBA isn't expected during Thursday's continuation of the meeting, but it could happen at next week's NFL combine, CBS Sports reports. The 12-team playoff format has been around for 30 years. If there were 14 teams around this year, the eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs would've played the Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening round, while the Los Angeles Rams would've faced the Green Bay Packers.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Sports
KEYWORDS: football; nationalfelonleague; nfl; nflplayoffs; playoffs; rogergoodell
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Only one team would get a first round bye if they expand to 7 playoff teams.
1 posted on 02/20/2020 5:35:40 PM PST by EdnaMode
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To: EdnaMode

Ugh. Either fire Goodell, or just put the NFL out of it’s misery.


2 posted on 02/20/2020 5:37:16 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: EdnaMode

Oh goody. I can’t wait for the next Superbowl halftime show where I and America can be insulted again.


3 posted on 02/20/2020 5:41:03 PM PST by HighSierra5
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To: EdnaMode
the NFL players union is the most toothless,impotent union in history. If I were NFLPA President, I'd be lobbying for LESS games, no Sunday-Thursday games (Thursday game only after an off-week), and guaranteed contracts.

The Owners let the players be anti-American, cop-killing thugs because it keeps them from having to treat them like decent human beings.

4 posted on 02/20/2020 5:41:37 PM PST by MuttTheHoople
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To: EdnaMode

They also talking about going to 17 games.


5 posted on 02/20/2020 5:44:21 PM PST by Captain Peter Blood (https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3804407/posts?q=1&;page=61)
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To: EdnaMode

Pretty soon the Superbowl will be on the same day as the March Madness Final. The XFL season will overlap the NFL.


6 posted on 02/20/2020 5:48:37 PM PST by spintreebob
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To: nickcarraway

Before adding a 17th game to the reg season, what are the stats on players injured in the sixteenth game now? Shortening the season seems more appropriate, plus adding teams to the divisions.


7 posted on 02/20/2020 5:49:07 PM PST by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: EdnaMode

The NFL should adopt a 162 game schedule like MLB.

That would increase the size of the players’ union.


8 posted on 02/20/2020 5:49:11 PM PST by Meatspace
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To: Meatspace

LOL ... watwer boys could finish the season in key player positions. Walk-ons would be welcomed.


9 posted on 02/20/2020 5:51:19 PM PST by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: HighSierra5
Why did the NFL think we’d want to see a couple 50 something year old broads out there dry humping a stage at a football game?

So gross

10 posted on 02/20/2020 5:53:09 PM PST by atc23
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To: EdnaMode
So, the 17th regular season game will reduce the preseason from 4 to 3 games. I guess that means the regular season will be starting in the middle of August.

Waiting for the addition of another bye week with 17 regular season games, stretching the season an additional week.

11 posted on 02/20/2020 5:55:01 PM PST by CatOwner
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To: EdnaMode

Why don’t they just have Oprah hand out participation trophies to every team at the end of the season.


12 posted on 02/20/2020 6:03:13 PM PST by Atticus
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To: MuttTheHoople

“no Sunday-Thursday games (Thursday game only after an off-week), and guaranteed contracts”

I think the should only play two preseason games, have two byes weeks, only play a Thursday night game after a bye, and stretch the regular season to 18 games. Also, increase the roster to about 60 active players per game, and do away with byes in the playoffs by advancing 8 teams per conference.

That would also allow them to setup the regular season so each team played it’s division members home and home, played everyone in two other divisions in the same conference and played one division from the other conference.


13 posted on 02/20/2020 6:03:21 PM PST by Fellow Traveler
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To: spintreebob
Pretty soon the Superbowl will be on the same day as the March Madness Final.

They would be moving in the other direction, going down to three preseason games. The playoffs wouldn't be any longer.

Right now, the NFL with 32 teams and 16 games has a balanced scheduling mechanism. A 17 game season would make that impossible. Seven playoff teams means an entire division could theoretically make the playoffs. That's just silly.
14 posted on 02/20/2020 6:03:21 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: CatOwner

They already have enough trouble doing basic things like tackling the first couple weeks of the season. They need more preseason, not less.


15 posted on 02/20/2020 6:04:07 PM PST by KarlInOhio (Democrats couldn't count a Siskel and Ebert vote, but they'll still try with those dead Chicagoans.)
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To: CatOwner

I don’t know if they’re starting the season earlier. I believe the plan is to have it run LATER ... because the NFL’s ultimate goal is to have the Super Bowl played on the Sunday of President’s Day weekend.


16 posted on 02/20/2020 6:04:36 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Oh, but it's hard to live by the rules; I never could and still never do.")
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To: spintreebob

See Post #16.


17 posted on 02/20/2020 6:06:28 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Oh, but it's hard to live by the rules; I never could and still never do.")
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To: EdnaMode

Don’t care for just one team getting a bye. It really should be 3. win the division get a bye except there always seems to be one division without a good team. The NFC east this year for example. They get to play. Saints got screwed with 14 wins and playing on wildcard weekend.


18 posted on 02/20/2020 6:06:59 PM PST by ilgipper (The mob only destroys. Never creates.)
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To: Captain Peter Blood
They also talking about going to 17 games.

At first I thought this was unworkable because half the teams would have 8 home games and the other half nine which would lead to endless complaining but I think I've figured out how to have a "fair" 17 game season:

Every team has a mandatory international game on their schedule which is neither home nor road. Schedule, say, eight games in London, two in Mexico City, one in Berlin, one in Madrid, one in Japan, one in Australia, one in Toronto (not for the Bills) and one in Vancouver (not for the Seahawks) but these can vary season by season.

This extra game would be an interconference matchup so each team has five opponents on the schedule from the other conference instead of the current four. You'd have the 1s face the 1s, the 2s face the 2s, the 3s face the 3s and the 4s face the 4s so there is a revolving schedule system that is as fair and predictable as possible to everyone.

19 posted on 02/20/2020 6:07:00 PM PST by OrangeHoof (The Democrats - Unafraid to burn in Hell.)
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To: KarlInOhio

They need a longer training camp but fewer preseason games. Preseason games have become nothing more than an opportunity to lose players to season-ending injuries.


20 posted on 02/20/2020 6:08:04 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Oh, but it's hard to live by the rules; I never could and still never do.")
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