Roger Goodell faces challenge to get approval of NFL’s playoff expansion proposal – NFL News
National Football League (NFL) commissioner Roger Goodell is not a man afraid of triggering controversies but he knows his idea of expanding the playoffs from present 14 to 16 teams has attracted only a few supporting voice, so far at least.
The idea first presented by a franchise owner in 2006 was tabled again by Roger at a meeting of the NFL franchise owners committee a week ago and a discussion is due on it in the offseason meeting in March next year.
Some commentators see the idea being made public deliberately by the commissioner to see the reaction within the league and football community, and also set a tone for final discussion next year.
So far, it has been completely rejected by some quarters while others see it premature to commit any debate around it. One view is that it is in line with the commissioners’ concern about quality of the preseason games, and his proposal to cut the number
of preseason games from current four to two games.
Earlier, the NFL boss had a similar view about the Pro Bowl. In fact he had threatened to cease the competition because of its quality, which is more or less a mock exercise and lacks real competition or rivalry between the two teams playing it.
The commissioner holds a similar view about the preseason games. He during one of his remarks said that preseason games lack quality and competition. He proposes that the number of preseason games should be slashed from four to two, to just offer teams to
get ready for the real competition in the regular and phases beyond it.
Since the idea of the time-cut in preseason has not become a subject of a formal discussion at any level within the league, it is unclear if the league office will push forward its proposal. If they do there is a clear possibility then that the playoffs
will be expanded to 16 teams, instead of 14 teams.
The commissioner faces a real challenge to get a majority of owners to throw their support behind it.
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