NFL COMMISSIONER ROGER Goodell has confirmed the league are exploring the possibility of expanding the play-offs.
Currently 12 teams qualify for the play-offs, with six sides apiece from the AFC and NFC, comprising of the four winners from the divisional conferences and two wildcard picks.
A large number of fixtures in the final round of the regular season had play-off implications and Goodell is keen to build on the excitement that generates.
“That (expanding the play-offs) is under serious consideration,” Goodell said in an interview on NFL.com.
“We think it’s one of the great things about the NFL, besides the fact that it’s unscripted. Every team and their fans start the season with hope.
“You mentioned the fact that for 11 straight years we’ve had a team go from last to first, that’s unique to professional football and the NFL, that doesn’t happen in other sports.
“And that’s because we have such a competitive league and we want to keep that.”
However, Goodell refuted suggestions the seeding system would be restructured to favour winning records over winning a division, after two NFC sides travelled to face teams with an inferior regular-season record in the wildcard round of the play-offs last weekend.
That argument was tempered somewhat by the fact the two sides in question, San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints, both won their fixtures anyway.
He added: ”I don’t think there is momentum for that (restructuring the seeds). I would probably disagree. There may be momentum in the media, that happens when you see San Francisco going to Green Bay (with a better record).
“But one of the premises we start with every season is that your first objective is to win the division. And when you win the division, you should have a home game.”
