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Expansion of the NFL playoffs

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Mudcat

Mudcat

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Consideration is being given to doing this in the future. Looking at increasing from the current 12 teams to 14 or possibly even 16.

To apply it to the now for illustration purposes, if it was 16 teams and the season ended today, the Cowboys and Jets are in the playoffs.
 
I don't like it. The regular season is the playoffs. If they expand it then you will have more teams clinching a playoff spot from November making the last 4 games for them irrelevant and making the league more boring.
 
As much as I love change, the NFL is the one league I actually have some interest in for its own sake - and I think it is excellent right now. The playoffs always seem to be nothing but good matchups. As soon as you allow 16 teams, you're going to start having sub-.500 teams in the playoffs all the time. No different than the NBA and NHL I suppose - but I vote no.

But I fully expect it will happen.
 
I think it will go to 14 teams but yes 16 too much! One team from each conference gets the bye and the other 12 play to move on! Not only for interest for fans with average teams to make playoffs but motivation for the top couple teams to possibly not just cruise into the playoffs resting players cause they want to finish first in the conference!
 
Mudcat
Highly debatable. In fact it has been debated for most of my life - and I am not young.

Not even sure what you're saying there. An expansion team would not have the same effect on the CFL?

Whatever - only one way to find out for sure.
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If the NFL moved into the two best markets (Toronto, Vancouver?), can they support a CFL team and an NFL team? Buffalo will not let Toronto have a team and they have one of the oldest owners. If Toronto gets a team, it's the Bills.
 
Yeah you are stating the Buffalo stuff as rigid facts and there are so many contingencies.



FairWarning
can they support a CFL team and an NFL team?
Click to expand...



Speaking of people stating theories as facts, people have been taking positions on both sides of this since the early 70's and maybe before. Many of them are absolutely positive about their positions. The only thing anyone can be positive about is that half of these positive people are wrong.

The truth is, there is only one way to find out.
 
Mudcat
Yeah you are stating the Buffalo stuff as rigid facts and there are so many contingencies.







Speaking of people stating theories as facts, people have been taking positions on both sides of this since the early 70's and maybe before. Many of them are absolutely positive about their positions. The only thing anyone can be positive about is that half of these positive people are wrong.

The truth is, there is only one way to find out.
Click to expand...

It would make sense for Buffalo to move to Toronto. Buffalo will not allow Jax or Minn to move to Toronto when they are 10-15000 fans from southern Ontario are going to Buffalo games. The NFL has a hard-on to move a team to LA right now, not sure why.
 
Buffalo is the most likely candidate of this moment but over the decades I have heard many people speak who were parts of consortia to bring the St. Louis Cardinals to Toronto, and the Los Angeles Rams. Various expansion committees. All while the Buffalo Bills existed just like today. These people put their time and money into NFL-to-Toronto efforts, and I never got the impression they felt a need for Buffalo's permission.



That aside, things change, people die, attendance goes up/down and franchises appear more/less stable as teams get more/less competitive, franchises move, owners get itchy for expansion dollars (that's your LA franchise I believe). Who knows what the climate will be in 5 minutes?

All I know is the original question was if an NFL team would be successful in Toronto and I feel as sure as I can that the answer to that is yes.
 
The area between Buffalo and Toronto must be blacked-out when Buffalo doesn't sell out, that is why it's considered part of Buffalo. I'm don't know how the TV contracts work in Canada away from the border. I know Windsor is blacked out on Lions non-sellouts also.
 
Yeah we get blacked out on those Bills games where I am. (In recent years that's usually considered good news.) I don't know what the implication is on a team moving here but, like I say, there has been many an attempt.



The most intelligent sounding buzz I hear these days is saying a lot of owners are hungry for expansion - and they are looking at the recent purchase price of the Dodgers and thinking they can get some big money out of L.A. Of course if they expand it would have to be an even number of teams (probably 2). So a lot of rich Toronto guys have their ears perked up about that.

And if they do that, Toronto or not, expansion of the playoffs will also seem more palatable since having 16 out of 34 teams seems a bit better than half the teams, 16 out of 32.

More teams, more playoffs. Money, money, money.



A big question is what happens with the Bills when Ralph Wilson dies which can't be THAT far off.
 
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