It's official: Only 12 teams will make the NFL playoffs in 2014. The league's owners, meeting in Atlanta this week, decided not to vote on expanding the playoff field to 14 teams for the upcoming season. The expected tabling was reported by multiple outlets on Tuesday.
No surprise, there won't be a vote on playoff expansion for 2014. Still aiming at 2015.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) May 20, 2014Although it's inevitable the measure will pass in 2015, it would have been too rushed to put the change into effect for '14. NFL owners are gung-ho about more postseason games because of the obvious extra revenue they will generate during wild-card weekend. But it wasn't wise to vote before knowing they could count on approval from the players union.
It is unlikely the NFL should ever want more than 14 teams in the playoffs, because it would mean half of the current league would get there. Adding two more teams might already be too much of a good thing.
The first time NFL owners can vote on expanded playoffs for '15 will come at the fall meeting, scheduled for Oct. 7 and 8.