Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that support has “eroded” for expanding the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams for the 2015 season.
According to Maske, the measure no longer is viewed as likely to be enacted next season.
“I’d say at this point it’s 50-50 at best,” said one person familiar with the deliberations. “I think it’s gonna happen eventually, just maybe not for next season. It seems to have lost momentum. It still could be revived for the March [owners’] meeting. But at the moment it doesn’t look good for next season.”
Maske spoke to three other sources familiar with deliberations, who agreed that the measure has lost traction in recent months. However, they wouldn’t rule out a possible expansion by next season.
Sources have told Maske that the decision to hold off on playoff expansion because some are reluctant to make another significant change that affect the NFL’s television partners, while the league is in the middle of a year-to-year arrangement with CBS for their Thursday games.
“People didn’t want to have the Thursday night package and expanded playoffs start the same season,” a source tells Maske. “So it looked like next season would be good [for the expanded playoffs to begin]. But now we’ve only done a one-year extension with CBS, so it’s kind of the same thing.”
There are other concerns as well, but it looks like this topic will roll over into the 2016 season before any changes are implemented.
The competition committee will meet at the Combine this week. Any changes would require 24 of the 32 owners in favor of the move to be implemented.
Maske’s article includes more information and is worth checking out if you’re interested.
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on X.com and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
