Roger Goodell’s Thoughts on Expanding the Playoffs

Jan 31, 2014; New York, NY, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addresses the media at Rose Theater in advance of Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

There has been a lot of chatter about expanding the NFL playoffs to include a couple more teams. It would include 14 teams making the playoffs instead of the current 12. Roger Goodell addressed the situation in his State of the NFL today:

“We currently have 12 teams qualify for the playoffs, as you know. We are looking at the idea of expanding that by two teams to 14,” Goodell said at his State of the League press conference. “There’s a lot of benefits to doing that. We think we can make the league more competitive. We think we can make the matchups more competitive towards the end of the season. There will be more excitement, more memorable moments for our fans. That’s something that attracts us. We think we can do it properly from a competitive standpoint. This will continue to get very serious consideration by the Competition Committee and then the ownership will have to vote on it.” – Pro Football Reference

In the new playoff system, only one team from each conference would get a BYE week. All the other teams would play a game in the wild card round and it could generate a lot more money for the league and for teams and it would allow for a more competitive regular season at the end of the year.

In order for this to come into play, it will have to be passed by the competition committee. The money factor may be the biggest reason for this going through.

The downside of the expanded playoffs, it would mean less value for the regular season. One team would not be able to get the BYE week and a team with a losing record could sneak their way into the playoffs. Who wants to see teams with losing records in the playoffs?

Would you like to see the league expand the playoffs?