New CBA Would See NFL Expand Playoffs to Seven Teams Per Conference

Look away Steelers fans still upset about the team missing the postseason by a single game.

According to Adam Schefter, the new collective bargaining agreement will add a seventh team in each conference to the NFL playoffs beginning with the 2020 season.

Had the playoff structure now on the table for the 2020 season been in effect this past season, the Steelers and Rams would have been in the postseason, playing on wild-card weekend.https://t.co/1eeUzVIbyB

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 19, 2020

Under the new format, each conference would only have one bye team and instead see six teams take part in wild-card weekend.

If ratified, the new proposal would provide a huge competitive advantage for the number one seeds in each conference, giving them the only bye. Had the system been enacted this year, the seventh seed Steelers would have matched up against the second seed Kansas City Chiefs in round one in the AFC and the Los Angeles Rams would have played Green Bay.

Despite the massive changes Schefter expresses optimism that the new CBA could be ratified as early as this week.

In addition to the change in the playoff format, NFL owners are also pushing for adding a 17th regular season game and shortening the preseason to three games. According to Schefter’s column, while the NFL playoff structure change has “already been agreed to” the additional regular season game has yet to be agreed to by the players. That part of the CBA also wouldn’t go into effect until the 2021 season at the earliest.