The NFL has confronted numerous challenges during the 2020 season because of the progressing COVID-19 pandemic, however they have reliably discovered better approaches to work around extraordinary deterrents. The league actually has half a month to overcome in this regular season, yet they have just begun looking forward to 2021 – which will carry with it its own set of challenges. This past offseason, NFL players voted to sanction another aggregate bartering agreement. While there are a few principles, guidelines and changes that are set to go into effect, one of the greatest potential changes has to do with the schedule.
Beginning in 2021, the NFL has the option to extend the regular season from 16 to 17 games, which the league has needed to accomplish for a long while now. On Wednesday, NFL proprietors began to lay the foundation for an additional regular-season game, and virtually met to talk about and build up what it would resemble. As indicated by NFL.com, the league’s proprietors didn’t vote to add a 17th game during this meeting, however did agree to procedures. Naturally, how future TV and media deals shake out will be a significant factor in the expected change, yet the league seems, by all accounts, to be preparing itself to make the expansion.
“We did not take any votes with respect to committing to do it,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said following the meeting, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. “The league did approve the scheduling formula if it happens, though.
“It obviously comes into play with respect to future media arrangements.”
As per NFL.com, scheduling procedures will be an “interconference matchup based on divisional standings” from the past campaign, and “on a rotating divisional basis” that would seem to be like how the schedule is made now – like how one division plays a whole division from the opposing conference. Having a 17th game could enable the NFL to endeavor to plan one considerable adversary against another competitor from the restricting conference in a conflict that could hold major postseason consequences.
The way that these meetings are going on now as opposed to during the forthcoming offseason could cause one to accept that the league is to be sure hoping to roll out this improvement when the 2021 season. Nothing is official yet, yet it seems a schedule with 17 regular-season games isn’t excessively far away.
