Steelers President Art Rooney II yesterday said that he "doesn't expect the league to expand the playoff by two teams" next season, according to the AP. Adding an extra Wild-Card team in each conference "has been discussed for several years" and likely will be a "hot topic at the owners' meetings in March." However, Rooney "cast doubt on it happening." Rooney: "I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of adding a playoff team or adding a team from each conference. But my view on that depends a lot on what goes with it. Schedule is certainly a factor: When would this game be played? The fact that we would now wind up with likely only having one team in each conference with a bye is not a great outcome." NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has supported adding two wild-card teams, as do "many owners, although the league previously has delayed a vote on expanding the playoffs" (AP, 1/22). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Josh Alper noted Giants President & CEO John Mara "opposed the idea" when it was brought up last year, and there were "questions about bargaining with the NFLPA about implementing the changes." Rooney and Mara speaking out against it does not mean the idea "won't happen," and the "amount of money that extra games will bring may make it an inevitability." But it appears that it "won't be any surer to go through this year than it was in 2014" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 1/21).
