The NFL is finalizing a collective bargaining agreement to change the NFL playoff format. Two more games may be added to the postseason schedule — one game/team per conference. Sources say that the change has been agreed upon for a long time and that there isn’t much disagreement around the idea.
More games aren’t the only change that NFL players and fans should expect.
Teams Making the NFL Playoffs
The new NFL playoff format will add one team from the AFC and one from the NFC conference, which will make it a 14-team postseason. This is seven teams total per conference as opposed to the 12 teams that we have known it to be for the past 10 years.
This new format will take place during the 2020 NFL season. With the new postseason, only one team in each conference will get a first-round bye week. Previously, two teams in each conference benefitted from first-round bye weeks.
Increased Regular Season and Shortened Preseason
The games in the regular NFL season will be increased to 17 while the preseason is shortened with only three games, as opposed to four. While NFL team owners initially proposed this change, it received a lot of pushback from the players due to safety risks that are associated with regular-season games.
This change is practically pointless to the players who start in the games during the regular season, as most of them don’t play during the Week Four preseason games. However, it does give them an extra game to play in regular-season with the additional risk of injury.