Playoffs are good, and people like playoffs, so Roger Goodell might be interested in more of them.
Preseason games are bad, and nobody likes the preseason, so Goodell might be willing to let some of them go away.
The stuff in between, he’s not sure about.
Those scheduling topics were among the things the NFL Commissioner touched on in an interview with Judy Battista of NFL.com.
On the topic of the universally loathed preseason, Goodell floated the possibility of turning some preseason games into scrimmages, or taking them out of season ticket plans, to reflect the increasing worthlessness of the August games.
He said there had been no recent conversations about an 18-game schedule, but seemed intrigued by the notion of expanding the playoffs beyond the current 12 teams.
“With the competitiveness of the league, you see teams get hot the second half of season, a reasonable argument could be made that there are teams that should qualify for the playoffs and don’t and could win the Super Bowl,” Goodell said. “I don’t think we want to expand just to have more teams. We want to create more excitement, more interest and give teams a chance to win the Super Bowl.”
Goodell admitted that the timing is such that any changes could be implemented before next year, giving them plenty of time to figure out a way to find a balance between more of the stuff they want (inventory, money), and less of the stuff they don’t (preseason games, arguments with the NFLPA).