The NFL is the king of the professional sports world and the most popular game in town is set to possibly add an extra game and according to Adam Schefter, an extra playoff team.
Schefter is reporting that the NFL is set to add a seventh playoff team to each conference while reducing the number of first-round byes to just one team.
The changes will take effect next season according to Schefter, with the league actually adding a 17th game and reducing the preseason to just three games.
The addition of the 17th regular-season game wouldn’t take place until the 2021 season at the earliest.
If the new structure had been in place during the 2019 season, the Baltimore Ravens would have been the lone AFC team to secure a first-round bye.
The Pittsburgh Steelers would have made the playoffs under the new structure and would have likely faced the Kansas City Chiefs in a first-round matchup.
The San Francisco 49ers would have been the only franchise to secure a first-round bye in 2019, with the LA Rams being the seventh team to secure a playoff birth.
The new formula makes for the excitement of several more teams now essentially fighting for that final playoffs spot in Week 17.
