By Ari Meirov
The NFL is expected to go ahead with plans of a 17 game season starting in 2021.
In his Football Morning in America, Peter King of NBC Sports outlined some of the details the league has in store.
The extra game will be an inter-conference matchup, and the AFC is likely to get the extra home game in 2021, then the conferences will alternate.
The formula that will be used to determine each team’s seventeenth game is as follows: AFC versus NFC, cross-conference matchup from two years ago, 2021 matchup based on 2020 standings.
For example: The four AFC West teams played the four NFC North teams in 2019. In 2020, Kansas City finished in first place in the AFC West, Green Bay first in the NFC North. So next season, first place in the AFC West will play against the first place team in the NFC North. That would be Green Bay versus Kansas City.
The season would still start the week after Labor Day, and the Super Bowl as a result would push back a week to February 13. That date would be the latest yet for a Super Bowl.
King also reports that the league is considering a doubleheader for Christmas, since it will fall on Saturday next season. The Saints-Vikings Christmas matchup from this past season drew over 20 million viewers on FOX.
Lastly, King also adds that one of the Wild Card games could end up being played on a Monday. The NFL played three games on Saturday and three on Sunday this past season in the first year with 14 playoff teams. The league discussed the Monday option last year but the college football championship game was scheduled for that night. If the 2021 season starts the week after Labor Day and goes 17 weeks, adding a week to the season would push the start of the playoffs back one week and avoid a run in with the college football championship game.
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