8 team playoffs?

[James in PA]

Sorry if this was already brought up elsewhere. Crazy idea, but it would certainly benefit the Seahawks, as we are likely to be the first team on the outside looking in under the current system. It would also give other teams the the Commander and Jets hope. Most importantly, more $$$ for the NFL.

NFL ponders playoff seeding without playing Bills-Bengals - ProFootballTalk

The NFL continues to discuss and deliberate the unfinished Bills-Bengals game from Week 17.Nothing is official yet. Here’s what we currently know.Bills-Bengals most likely will not be played. The players don’t want to do it. And there’s no good way to fit it into the schedule.The best bad...

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[James in PA]

Let me add that if they do this once, I can guarantee you this will become permanent. More interest from fans of mediocre teams, more revenue. It's a no-brainer for the NFL.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

The nfl would have to open union negotiations to this at a late date. I doubt they will Now, but it will certainly get brought up as an option later.

 

[Lagartixa]

It's only a matter of time before the NFL has more playoff teams. I'd say it's getting like the NBA and NHL, but it's not. In the NFL, the short schedule means a single crazy bounce or a bad day or an inspired day from a single player can make a big difference in the standings. In the NBA and NHL, the teams play 82 regular-season games each (a total of 1312 for the NHL and 1230 for the NBA) to eliminate fewer than half the teams. And then the NBA and NHL playoffs last over two months.

I'm wondering if any teams would get byes. Since eight is a power of two, it's easy to have all the teams playing on the first weekend of the playoffs, and then it's easy to have the bracket keep getting smaller by a factor of two until there's a single conference champion. The first weekend reduces the number of teams still playing in the conference to four, then the second reduces it to two, and then the third produces a conference champion. Having no playoff byes reduces the advantage of playing in an easy division and the disadvantage of playing in a hard division.

I don't think they can just have the wildcard teams play each other while all the division winners get byes, because after the wildcard-teams-only games, there'd be six teams left in each conference, and that doesn't work for a bracket.

If they were to go back to having just two byes in each conference, then two of the division winners and all four wildcard teams in a conference would play the first weekend, leaving four survivors plus the two that got byes, getting us back to six teams, which doesn't work for a bracket.

With eight (an even number) of playoff teams, I can't think of an easy way to have an odd number of byes.

It seems to me there must be a solution for eight playoff teams other than having no playoff byes, but I haven't thought of one so far.

 

[James in PA]

As with most things, lots of pro and con arguments to be made. I like the symmetry of 32 to 16 to 8, etc and everyone having the same amount of playoff games. On the other hand, you could be a 1 seed and get screwed by playing an 8th seed from a loaded division.

 

[hawkfan68]

It's only a matter of time before the NFL has more playoff teams. I'd say it's getting like the NBA and NHL, but it's not. In the NFL, the short schedule means a single crazy bounce or a bad day or an inspired day from a single player can make a big difference in the standings. In the NBA and NHL, the teams play 82 regular-season games each (a total of 1312 for the NHL and 1230 for the NBA) to eliminate fewer than half the teams. And then the NBA and NHL playoffs last over two months.

I'm wondering if any teams would get byes. Since eight is a power of two, it's easy to have all the teams playing on the first weekend of the playoffs, and then it's easy to have the bracket keep getting smaller by a factor of two until there's a single conference champion. The first weekend reduces the number of teams still playing in the conference to four, then the second reduces it to two, and then the third produces a conference champion. Having no playoff byes reduces the advantage of playing in an easy division and the disadvantage of playing in a hard division.

I don't think they can just have the wildcard teams play each other while all the division winners get byes, because after the wildcard-teams-only games, there'd be six teams left in each conference, and that doesn't work for a bracket.

If they were to go back to having just two byes in each conference, then two of the division winners and all four wildcard teams in a conference would play the first weekend, leaving four survivors plus the two that got byes, getting us back to six teams, which doesn't work for a bracket.

With eight (an even number) of playoff teams, I can't think of an easy way to have an odd number of byes.

It seems to me there must be a solution for eight playoff teams other than having no playoff byes, but I haven't thought of one so far.

I'm not sure how they would do the byes in a 8 team playoff per conference. However, they can still do a HFA throughout the playoffs for the top seed.

 

[kidhawk]

I can understand for this season but unless they add a two team bye, having 8 teams won’t work. Too many teams clinching too early and making seeding less important for the teams at the top.

 

[James in PA]

That's the whole point: NO BYES and therefore more games ($$) and interest as fans of more teams will be saying: "So you're telling me there's a chance?"

I'm not saying it's right, but I am saying it's only a matter of time.

 

[pmedic920]

The nfl would have to open union negotiations to this at a late date. I doubt they will Now, but it will certainly get brought up as an option later.

They stated that in the piece.