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NFL teams have agreed to a 14-team expanded playoff in which three wildcard teams per conference will make the playoffs.
The news came Tuesday afternoon after a remote vote was held during a league meeting.
The No. 1 seed in each conference will receive both home field advantage throughout the playoffs and a bye in the Wild Card round. The remaining three division winners will then take on the three wild card entrants.
The remaining division champions in each conference with the best records will be seeded 2, 3, and 4, followed by the next three teams per conference with the best records seeded 5, 6, and 7. AFC and NFC Wild Card games will feature the 2 seed hosting the 7 seed, the 3 seed hosting the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosting the 5 seed.
Three-fourths of the 32 owners needed to approve the change. For the owners, it means two more playoff games that will bring in significant television revenue.
Wild Card Weekend for the 2020 season will consist of three games on Saturday, Jan. 9, and three games on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021.
CBS will broadcast one additional Wild Card game on January 10 at 4:40 p.m. ET. Interestingly, as part of CBS’ coverage, a separately produced telecast of the game will air on Nickelodeon tailored for a younger audience.
NBC, its new streaming service Peacock, as well as Telemundo will all broadcast an additional Wild Card game on January 10 at 8:15 p.m. ET.
The NFL last expanded the playoffs for the 1990 season, increasing from 10 to 12 the number of teams to qualify for the postseason. Since 1990, at least four new teams have qualified for the playoffs that missed the postseason the year before – a streak of 30 consecutive seasons.
ESPN noted that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell began considering the idea nearly 10 years ago, and the league appeared on the brink of adopting a similar plan in 2014.