NFL team owners approved a plan to expand the playoffs to 14 teams, starting with the 2020 season.
During a conference call to discuss league business after the annual meetings were canceled due to the new coronavirus, the owners also awarded one of those extra games to CBS and one to NBC. Three-fourths of the 32 owners needed to approve the change, and the vote was unanimous.
Only the teams with the best record in the AFC and NFC will get a bye under the new format. In the past, the top two teams in each conference skipped wild card weekend. The seventh seed will play No. 2, the sixth will play No. 3 and the fifth will be at the fourth seed for wild card games.
Three games are set for Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 9-10 — pending the NFL schedule going forward as planned. The schedule likely will be released on May 9.
This marks the first time in 30 years the NFL has expanded the playoffs. They last did it in 1990, going from 10 playoff teams to 12.