The road to playoffs just got a bit easier in the National Football League. According to ESPN, the NFL team owners voted on Tuesday to expand the postseason from 12 to 14 teams starting 2020.
The new playoffs system will see one additional team from both NFC and AFC make it to the wild-card. This means that each conference will now have three wild-card teams instead of two.
The change also affects the first-round byes. In the past, both No.1 and No.2 seed in each conference had the bye. Under the new format, only the No.1 seed will get a week off, while the No.2 seed will play the third wild-card team.
This is the first time in 30 years that the league decided to expand the playoffs. Back in 1990, the number of teams that make it to the postseason was increased from 10 to 12.
NFL reportedly started considering playoff expansion 10 years ago and was close to making it official in 2014. However, the plan was put on hold until the new collective bargaining agreement was in place. After the league and the players agreed to new CBA earlier this year, team owners acted swiftly and made the change.
