NFL owners expected to approve increased playoff field for the 2020 season later today

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

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As part of the collective bargaining negotiations between NFL ownership and the NFL Players Association, both sides agreed to increase the league’s playoff field from 12 to 14 teams as early as the 2020 season. All that is needed for the change to be implemented would be a vote by the owners. That vote will take place later today, according to a report by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, and is expected to approve the new-look format.

With the NFL’s annual meeting being canceled in light of the Coronavirus pandemic, the 32 owners will hold a conference call to discuss changing the playoffs among other topics. Adding one more team as well as an additional postseason game per conference, after all, requires a re-seeding of the tournament as well as a decision on the broadcasting rights associated with the extra games. Three-fourths of the owners need to agree for proposals to pass.

While the broadcasting has no impact on the schedule, re-seeding the two conferences to fit a seventh team in is a major change compared to the currently established format. After all, the two-bye system would be eliminated and only the conferences’ top seeds would have wild card weekend off. This would naturally make the number one seed much more valuable, and give the teams earning it an enormous advantage over the rest of a somewhat watered-down playoff field.

For what it is worth — apparently little compared to the bottom line of having one more postseason contest to promote and sell — NFL fans are not in favor of adding two more teams to the playoff contention: as part of SB Nation’s FanPulse survey last month, 57 percent of participants shared the opinion that a 14-team playoff field and all that it entails in terms of the format will ultimately make the tournament a worse one.

From the New England Patriots’ perspective, there would have been considerable changes had the new format already been in place since the league’s divisional realignment in 2002: they would have earned a bye week only seven instead of twelve times, and also made the playoffs in 2008 when quarterback Matt Cassel replaced an injured Tom Brady. Meanwhile, the road to the Super Bowl certainly would have been a harder one in both 2004 and 2018 with the Patriots having to play extra games as the number two seed.

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