According to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the NFL sent a memo to all 32 of its franchises revealing that the league has officially ruled out the possibility of having postseason “bubbles” come playoff time. Despite the fact that such an idea had been floating around for quite some time as COVID-19 continues to surge throughout the United States, it now appears as though the NFL is pretty much set on rolling the dice this postseason.
However, it is also worth mentioning that Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes that voluntary “bubbles” by NFL teams will still be permitted this postseason.
The NFL sent out a memo to teams today alerting them to the decision that there will be no local bubbles during the playoffs… among other things: pic.twitter.com/7wHVBTk7h3
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 16, 2020
“The NFL doesn’t want to make the concession(s) to the union that would make a postseason bubble mandatory,” writes Florio. “As a result, teams that are serious about contending for a championship surely will set up voluntary postseason bubbles on their own.”
The NFL has already made changes to its playoff format, which led many to believe that more unique changes would be coming due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the concept of implementing playoff “bubbles” previously thought of as the next change that would be made, the NFL began its season by adding an extra postseason team to each conference. In 2020-21, instead of six AFC and six NFC playoff teams, there will now be seven AFC and seven NFC playoff teams with each conference's wild card grouping growing by one franchise. As a result of such a decision, only the No. 1 seed—and not the No. 2 seeds—in each conference will receive a first-round bye this time around.
Follow Us
Subscribe