National Football League unanimously agreed Tuesday to expand the playoff field to 16 teams if any games are canceled due to the coronavirus.
The NFL owners approved the plan to expand the postseason from 14 to 16 teams to allow for the possibility of a shortened regular season in case any games get canceled, per ProFootballTalk.com. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
NFL unanimously approves contingency plan for 16-team postseason https://t.co/uQsdf0jlco
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) November 10, 2020
“We are committed to completing the season as scheduled,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shared following a virtual league meeting with owners. (RELATED: Here’s A Glorious Video Of Matthew Stafford Throwing 56 Touchdowns To Calvin Johnson)
Under the new plan, eight teams in each conference would make the postseason if it happens that not all 32 teams end up being able to play all 16 games.
Up until now, any time the league has faced teams dealing with a coronavirus positive testing, the schedule has been able to shift utilizing various team’s bye weeks to simply postpone a game. But those bye weeks will be ending soon so the league needed to come up with a plan to deal with things should a team be forced to cancel a game due to COVID-19.
Goodell stressed that the league is still hopeful that through contact tracing and isolating people who have tested positive they will be able to prevent any future outbreaks that would cause games left to play during the remainder of the season to be canceled, the piece noted.