Talks for putting together a new collective bargaining for the NFL resumed. Some of the more intriguing chatter? How the league can expand the playoffs –the plan being floated looks like this:
- Those meaningless pre-season games nobody cares about would be reduced to three games instead of four.
- The number of teams going to the playoffs would increase from 12 to 14.
- The number one seed in each division would receive a first-week post-season bye.
- The rest of the teams would square-off in the first week – 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5.
- In week two of the playoffs, the lowest remaining seed would take on the number one seed.
As of now, there’s no “formal” proposal to make this happen, but it’s said that players and owners are “open” to the idea. And one other thing? There’s been talk of expanding the regular season to 17 or 18 games, but the players oppose this passionately (though that’s not “officially” proposed either). But can’t we all agree that getting rid of a pre-season game or two is in everyone’s best interest?
Another sticking point is, of course: money. There’s been no “breakthrough” on how owners and players will split league revenue. That means there’s little likelihood that a deal will be agreed upon before the regular season kicks-off on September 5th. There’s still time, since the current deal doesn’t expire until March of 2021, but it’s by far better to get a deal done now…rather than deal with the drama of waiting until the last minute.
Source:NFL Network