Roger Goodell:
Playoff expansion a possibility for 2015



The NFL's competition committee opted against a recommendation last March that would expand the playoff field in the near future. Commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear Tuesday during the NFL Fall Meeting that the issue is back on the table.

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The possibility of adding two teams to the postseason is one of the "priorities" for the competition committee in 2014, Goodell said.

"If expanding the postseason would allow other teams to get into the dance, and they have the potential of going on and winning the Super Bowl," Goodell explained, "that's a good thing for fans, that a good thing competitively."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000...y-for-2015

IDK, 32 teams overall...

8 division winners + 4 wild cards = 12. I don't think 16/32 is a good idea.... but it has worked for the NBA. 14 with the #1 overalls getting a bye week might be a decent compromise.

(01-27-2014 11:46 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  IDK, 32 teams overall...

8 division winners + 4 wild cards = 12. I don't think 16/32 is a good idea.... but it has worked for the NBA. 14 with the #1 overalls getting a bye week might be a decent compromise.

I don't think it's worked for the NBA. I mean ok, it's worked for the league in terms of popularity, but it's definitely hurt the experience for the hardcore fans.

I'd just assume the NFL not guarantee a home game for each division champion, but the four highest seeds - that would do more than expanding to 14 teams.

There will also be the practical issue of scheduling games for TV - at 14 teams, the 12 who would play on the first weekend can be accommodated with a triple header on Saturday and Sunday. Any field larger than 14 teams may be problematic with the NFL's TV partners. Even at 14 teams, Western teams could get boxed into playing in primetime on Wild Card weekend simply to avoid a game that kickoffs at 10 AM or 11 AM local time.

For this playoff cycle, the extra games would have been as follows:

Dallas at Carolina
Pittsburgh at New England

This would have probably pushed San Diego-Cincinnati to a later time slot on Sunday, especially if Pittsburgh-New England was on Saturday. SF-GB would have been the Sunday night game on NBC. FOX would have had NO-PHI on Saturday and DAL-CAR on Sunday. CBS would have picked up either PIT-NE or KC-IND for Saturday and NBC would have had the other.