Old but Slow wrote:Most of the rule changes, as I understand, will be effective for the 2021 season with some actions in further years. The additional cap $ and salary stuff is more immediate.
When they go to 17 games, they will reduce the preseason games to 3, so there will still be the same number of games.
I don't much like the rule changes I know of, and I know nothing of the money stuff. I'm just glad its over.
From what I've read, the 17 game schedule won't come into being until 2022. I assume that they'll axe the 4th preseason game at the same time. Not sure when they'll add the two extra playoff teams/games, only that the earliest is 2021.
It will be interesting to see how they reconfigure the schedule when they add the 17th game. I've heard where they plan on adding a 2nd bye week per team, which if they extend the season on the back end, would push the Super Bowl to the 3rd Sunday in February. There's also been discussion about allowing teams to schedule intersquad scrimmages in lieu of the 4th preseason game, the implication being that they won't extend the season on the front side, ie first Sunday in September, which has been informally ceded to MLB.
I'm not necessarily thrilled with all the new terms, either, but like everyone else, I'm glad they got it done.