Cutting two games off the preseason - either by expanding the playoffs or moving to an 18-game schedule - is still being discussed, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN Tuesday at the league's spring owners meetings in Boston. Goodell said all "[options] are on the table."
"As I have said before, I think the structure of the season is something that we consistently reevaluate," he said. "I have been quite open about [indicating that] we have to address the quality of the preseason.
"I hear from fans consistently that they want to make every NFL event more valuable. They see the preseason as being less valuable to them because they don't see the best players and the games do not count," he said. "We have to address that, whether we are looking at 18 [regular-season games] and two [preseason games] or 16-and-two and expanded playoffs."
When asked about playoff expansion, Goodell said the NFL has asked the competition committee to "look at it," He said there was "a lot of discussion" on the topic and the NFL had a brief report at the March owners meetings, but talks on the topic didn't take place Tuesday.
"We are going to continue to have more dialogue with the players' association, which is a big part of that discussion, and the second is with broadcast partners," he said.
If the league does decide on either an 18-game regular season or an expansion of the playoff field, the date of the Super Bowl might have to be shifted back. Perhaps with that in mind, the commissioner said the league is "holding multiple dates" for Super Bowl L, which was awarded to San Francisco on Tuesday, and Super Bowl LI, awarded to Houston, in response to a question about what the anticipated dates were for those title games.
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