NFL team owners vote to extend play-offs from 2020 season

Monitoring Desk

NEW YORK : NFL team owners have voted to add two extra teams to the play-offs, starting from the 2020 season.

Both the AFC and NFC will add a seventh team for the post-season, but only the top seed in each conference will get a first-round bye instead of the top two.

The new format had needed approval from three-quarters of the 32 NFL owners during a conference call. It means there will be six matches across wildcard weekend in January 2021 instead of four in the previous format.

The second seed will host the seventh seed, the third seed will host the sixth seed and the fourth seed will host the fifth seed.

It is understood a collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players’ union allowed for the play-off expansion to be put to a vote.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the reigning Super Bowl champions, after beating the San Fransisco 49ers 31-20 in Miami in February.

Agencies add: In the midst of the most uncertain period in the history of American sports, the NFL delivered a surprisingly unflinching message on Tuesday: The league is not only planning to have a full season in 2020 — it’s expecting that season to start on schedule.

“Our planning — our expectation — is fully directed at playing a full season starting on schedule and having a full regular season and full set of playoffs,” NFL executive vice president Jeff Pash said on a conference call, giving an update on the league’s handling of the COVID-19 fallout.

“… Am I certain? I’m not certain that I’ll be here tomorrow. But I’m planning on it, and same thing — we are planning on having a full season.”

That message of expecting all of the league’s trains to run on time by late summer was revealed after the league office had a series of conference calls with NFL executives and ownership groups. The aim: relay the message that the NFL will prepare for normalized operations to return in late summer — with training camps opening as expected in July, followed by a Hall of Fame game with fans, full preseason schedule and the Thursday night regular-season kickoff on Sept. 10. There is also no plan to alter the league’s international matchups. And all of this is being planned as if it will occur in front of the normal fan contingent.

In short, the NFL’s 2020 season is expected to be pulled off precisely as it would have been if a worldwide pandemic had never occurred.

Perhaps most remarkable at this stage is what the league hasn’t discussed.

Pash suggested that as of now, the NFL has not begun working on “break the glass” scenarios that might include a delayed start, shortened season or playing games in empty stadiums. Pash indicated the league is hesitant to create those kinds of options, apparently waiting to see the data and health advisories in the coming months.

“I really don’t know (when contingency plans will be considered),” Pash said. “A lot of it will depend on the medical and public health situation. If the modeling is as we’ve been given to understand, we may not have to get very far down that road. If things take a turn and different regulations are put in place, then we’ll have to address it in a more substantial way. But like I said, for the time being, we’re pretty confident that we’ll be able to begin on schedule.” (BBC)