Extended Playoffs Would Mean Larger Focus on No. 1 Seed

Under a new collective bargaining agreement, the home-field advantage that quarterback Aaron Rodgers has sought for years would be more important than ever.

As first reported by ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, the NFL playoff field would be expanded from 12 teams to 14. That’s seven teams per conference, meaning only the No. 1 seed would home-field advantage – a huge advantage in getting to the Super Bowl. Over the last seven seasons, all 14 teams that reached the Super Bowl had earned a first-round bye.

“I think we’re really close,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after his Green Bay Packers were blasted by the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. “I think we’re just a little more consistent performance away from consistently playing with these guys. But we got them at their place twice. I’ve said this before: We’ve got to get one of these at home. It’s a different ballgame. It’s different playing in 20-degree weather and snow. Cold and wind is a different type of game than playing here.”

Under the new format, which, if approved, would begin in the upcoming 2020 season, there would be six teams in each conference playing on wild-card weekend, with No. 2 hosting No. 7, No. 3 hosting No. 6 and No. 4 hosting No. 5. In last year’s breakout season, the Packers finished 13-3 and earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. Under the proposed new format, the Packers would have hosted the Los Angeles Rams, who would have gone from out of the playoffs to in the playoffs under the new structure.

“That's been agreed to for a long time,” one source familiar with the CBA talks told Schefter about the NFL's new playoff structure. “There wasn't a lot of disagreement to that issue.”

Where there is disagreement is going to a 17-game regular-season schedule. Owners want to go to 17 games to drive up revenue; players don’t want to put their bodies through the rigors of an additional regular-season game. Going to a three-game preseason isn’t much of a trade-off, considering most starters play little in the preseason, anyway.

The current CBA runs through the 2020 season. A potential 17-game season, if approved, wouldn’t start until 2021.

Of course, money is what’s driving the negotiations. According to Schefter, players would get 48 percent of the league’s mammoth financial pie – up from 47 percent. That would go to 48.5 percent in a 17-game season. That would mean an additional $5 billion for the players, Schefter said. If the new CBA is like the old CBA, that would mean a 10-year deal, that would mean $500 million per season, or an additional $15.625 million per team.