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Quality of preseason still an issue

NFL

Cutting two games off the preseason -- either by expanding the playoffs or moving to an 18-game schedule -- is still being discussed, commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday at the NFL's spring owners meetings in Boston.

He said all "[options] are on the table."

"As I have said before, I think the structure of the season is something that we consistently reevaluate," he said. "I have been quite open about [indicating that] we have to address the quality of the preseason.

"I hear from fans consistently that they want to make every NFL event more valuable. They see the preseason as being less valuable to them because they don't see the best players and the games do not count," he said. "We have to address that, whether we are looking at 18 [regular-season games] and two [preseason games] or 16-and-two and expanded playoffs."

When asked about playoff expansion, Goodell said the NFL has asked the competition committee "to look at it." He said there was "a lot of discussion" on the topic and the league had a brief report at the March owners meetings, but talks on the topic didn't happen Tuesday.

"We are going to continue to have more dialogue with the players' association, which is a big part of that discussion, and the second is with broadcast partners," he said.

If the league expands the playoff field or moves to an 18-game regular season, the date of the Super Bowl might have to be shifted back.

Perhaps with that in mind, Goodell said the league is "holding multiple dates" for Super L, which was awarded Tuesday to San Francisco, and Super Bowl LI, awarded to Houston, in response to a question about what the anticipated dates were for those title games.

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