After an un-inspired preseason which has featured poor quarterback play, a game being played on an 80-yard-field and an Australian-rules football player making tackles like a linebacker, the NFL is looking to make some changes, according to The Washington Post.
By the summer of 2021, the NFL’s current four-game preseason could be shortened by one or two games. But, in order to offset the revenue which would be lost from eliminated those games, the league’s owners would likely demand to add games in the regular season or playoffs onto the schedule.
During ongoing CBA negotiations between the NFLPA and team owners, options that are being discussed include expanding the 16-game regular season to 17 or 18 or adding an additional two playoff teams to bring the field to 14 clubs.
With 14 teams (seven from each conference in the playoffs, only one team in the AFC and one in the NFC would receive an opening-round playoff bye. That would make expand the first round of the playoffs to six games instead of the current four.
At this point, the union seems more likely to agree to add those two extra games in the playoffs than agree to a lengthening of the regular season, The Post reports. To speed that agreement from the NFLPA, some owners also are prepared to make concessions to players such as loosening the league’s marijuana policy and reducing commissioner Roger Goodell’s authority in player discipline.
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