HEADLINES

Owners To Vote On Revised Playoff Seeding

May 21st, 2025 at 9:00am CST by Adam La Rose

MAY 21: The Lions withdrew their proposal to change the NFL’s playoff seeding, per NFL Network’s Judy Battista. It will likely resurface in the future, potentially as part of an effort to expand the regular season to 18 games, according to Mark Maske of The Washington Post.

MAY 20: This measure is unlikely to pass, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said during a SportsCenter appearance it should not be expected to venture off the radar. A change should be expected — one that would introduce the possibility of a division winner beginning its playoff slate on the road for the first time since 1989 — down the line, as Fowler offers the increasingly inevitable move to 18 games could be what pushes this change past the goal line.

Indeed, Breer adds the proposal was not close to passing in March. Owners did, however, discuss language that would have included a winning record being required for any non-division winner to host a game. That component did not make its way into the Lions’ final proposal, however.

MAY 16: Olympic participation will be one of the key items on the agenda for the upcoming owners meeting in Minneapolis. Another one will pertain to a potential tweak in the way playoff teams are seeded moving forward.

In January, it was learned the NFL would look into changing the playoff format. In particular, seeding the postseason-bound teams from each conference based solely on record has received consideration. Such an arrangement would still see division winners assured of a playoff spot but not necessarily home field during the wild-card round.

Owners will have the opportunity to vote on a proposal from the Lions which would seed the playoff teams from 1-7 next week, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated writes. Questions were raised earlier this offseason about removing the guaranteed home game from division winners and thus the likelihood of such an alteration receiving sufficient support for it to be passed. Breer adds a change has since been made to the proposal which would see teams reseeded after the opening round of the postseason.

Division winners would also receive the tiebreaker over wild-card teams under this proposal (regardless of the outcome of head-to-head matchups), per Breer. While that would lend even further credence to the significance of topping a division, passing the resolution – or at least some form of it – would constitute a notable departure from the status quo in how the playoff bracket is arranged. A strong possibility therefore exists less than the required 24 yes votes from owners will exist in the coming days.

On that note, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reports it is considered unlikely the current proposal will pass if it is brought to a vote. He adds, however, that opinions on the matter could begin to shift once an 18-game regular season schedule (long seen as an inevitability) is put in place. As both Breer and Jones note, the changes being floated would create more opportunities for teams to move up and down the playoff order through to the end of the campaign even after clinching their division. That, in turn, would presumably lead to more starters remaining on the field for otherwise meaningless (or at least less meaningful) matchups in the closing weeks of the year.

Of course, the fact a proposal is set for discussion and potentially a vote illustrates the support it has among some in the league. Jones writes that commissioner Roger Goodell is among the advocates for altering the playoff seeding. Whether or not that helps sway the view of enough owners next week will be worth monitoring.

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