The Detroit Lions proposal to change the NFL bylaw surrounding the playoff seeding process did not garner enough support and was reportedly withdrawn at the spring meetings in Minnesota.
Detroit's proposal was to adjust how the playoffs were seeded for the Divisional Round and beyond. A point of contention for the proposal was teams wanting to hold on to the home playoff game that is currently given to each of the division champions.
During a recent episode of 'NFL Live,' ESPN analyst Peter Schrager explained that taking away the automatic home game awarded to division champions was going to make it difficult for the change to pass with the required 24 votes.
"The thought is that, 'Hey, let's reward the teams in the conference with the best record.' Division winner still gets in automatically, but for that home game, let's reward those teams," Schrager said. "Now, I've talked to a lot of owners, I've talked to a lot of team presidents, I don't know if there's enough juice to change this right now. They're gonna need 24 votes out of 32 teams, I just don't know if there's enough votes and enough urgency to change this."
Reporter Jeremy Fowler did note there could be momentum for a change of similar sort to be made within the league, as there is growing desire to avoid late-season games that are rendered meaningless for teams that are already locked into their respective playoff seed.
Fowler explained, "While the ’ now-withdrawn playoff reseeding proposal did not have legs, team officials acknowledge reseeding will be needed down the line - especially if 18-game season becomes a reality."
Other items that were to be voted on during the meetings included a proposal to ban the Philadelphia Eagles 'Tush Push' play.
The owners did vote to allow NFL players to play flag football in the 2028 Olympics.
