The NFL will maintain its postseason format for the 2015 season.
America’s top sports league has been contemplating adding two more playoff squads, one in each conference. New York Giants owner John Mara at the league’s meeting in Phoenix said he didn’t think anything would happen for this season.
Under the most-often-discussed scenario, 14 teams would make the postseason, and add a pair of games and presumably with expensive telecast rights.
Meanwhile, NFL owners voted to punt the blackout rules, under which a game not sold out didn’t air within the attendant DMA. There were no local blackouts during the 2014 regular season and only two blackouts in 2013.
Last September, the FCC unanimously voted to get rid of its so-called sports blackout rules.
Elsewhere, the league said on Monday that it would air the Buffalo Bills-Jacksonville Jaguars game from London on Oct. 26 worldwide on a digital platform. That was something NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had mentioned during his state of the league address at Super Bowl XLIX.
Kicking off at 9:30 a.m. (ET), Bills-Jaguars will not be available on DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package, but will still aired on TV in the two participating clubs’ local markets.
Distribution specifics were not disclosed, but reports indicate the game will be put up for bid, which could bring Google, its YouTube platform, and Facebook into the game.
