NFL PUMPS UP PLAYOFFS

Owners approve postseason expansion from 12 to 14 teams

Assuming the NFL plays its 2020 season, there will be 14 playoff teams instead of 12. The league’s owners approved the two-team postseason expansion on a Tuesday conference call. The vote was a formality after the NFL had collectively bargained the measure with the NFL Players’ Association this spring.

The new format means the NFC and AFC now will send seven teams apiece to the playoffs every year instead of six per conference.

Only the top seed in each conference will receive a firstround bye, a change from the top two seeds in each getting passes into the divisional round.

Wild Card weekend now

will consist of three games on Saturday and three games on Sunday, this year on Jan. 9 and 10 at approximately 1:05 E.T., 4:40 E.T. and 8:15 p.m. E.T. both days.

Postseason NFL football gets blockbuster ratings. The league has new TV deals to negotiate soon, and this will help the NFL secure even more lucrative contracts as networks vie for rights to one of the greatest commodities in television.

CBS and NBC will broadcast one additional Wild Card game each this year on Jan. 10 at 4:40 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. respectively, the league said.

Additionally, as part of CBS’ coverage, a separately produced telecast of the 4:40 p.m. game will air on Nickelodeon, tailored to a younger audience.

The NFL last expanded the playoffs for the 1990 season, increasing from 10 to 12 teams.

If the new 2020 format had been in place last season, the Super Bowl champion Kansas

City Chiefs would not have received a first-round bye as the AFC’s two-seed.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and L.A. Rams would have earned postseason berths in the AFC and NFC, respectively.

In the new format, the No. 1 seed in each conference will receive a bye in the Wild Card round. Then the remaining division champions in each conference will be seeded two, three and four, followed by three wild cards at five, six and seven.

AFC and NFC Wild Card games will feature the twoseed hosting the seven-seed, the three-seed hosting the sixseed, and the four-seed hosting the five-seed.

Expanding to 14 playoff teams creates the opportunity for almost half the 32-team NFL to qualify for the postseason each year, which is a positive for coaches and GMs.

On the flip side, it will look even worse when clubs habitually fail to reach the playoffs.

AP If new playoff format would have been in place last season, Sam Darnold and Jets would have been final AFC team to make postseason.

AP Daniel Jones and Giants have work to do, but extra playoff spot certainly can’t hurt.