For some time now, the NFL has been considering expanding the league to 14 teams, which caused many to wonder how the playoffs would be handled, and when they would be played. Well, a few days ago the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, answered that question, and said playoff games could be held on Friday and Monday nights; however, nothing yet has been finalized.
In addition, Goodell says the whole purpose of adding more playoff games would be to give those teams who go on winning streaks late in the season, a chance to compete for the Super Bowl.
“The big discussion would be the first weekend, the wild card weekend of the playoffs, how would you structure that,” said Goodell. “Three on Saturday, three on Sunday? We’re looking at every alternative, and I think that’s what the membership ultimately is going to have to decide. Would you play a game on Friday night, two on Saturday, two on Sunday and another on Monday?”
And fans may be treated to additional nights of football in the seasons to come as well, because networks such as Fox, NBC, CBS and others have entered a bid, hoping to broadcast 13 games on Thursday nights, and Chairman of NBC’s entertainment division, Robert Greenblatt, said it would be great if his network won the bid.
“We’d love to have more NFL games,” he said. “Thursday night games might be really interesting to us. I just can’t say. I mean, it’s something we’re talking about, and we have a great relationship with the NFL.”
But before fans get too excited about the extra playoff games, they’ll have to be a little patient, since Goodell said the changes probably won’t be implemented until the 2015 season, as it’ll clearly take the league a little while to sort out exactly what it wants to do.
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