Roger Goodell on Friday offered hope for London and an expanded NFL playoff field and bad news to detractors of the Redskins’ nickname and any players hoping marijuana would be taken off the banned list.
Those were among the various topics the commissioner addressed Friday morning in his annual state-of-the-league Super Bowl press conference, held at the Time Warner Center.
Goodell continued his recent press to expand the playoff field by one team per conference while shortening the preseason, though that would have to be approved by a majority vote of the owners and likely require the NFL Players Association to sign off on it.
“We are looking at the idea of expanding that by two teams to 14,” Goodell said. “There’s a lot of benefits to doing that. We think we can make the league more competitive. We think we can make the matchups more competitive towards the end of the season.
“There will be more excitement, more memorable moments for our fans. That’s something that attracts us. We think we can do it properly from a competitive standpoint. This will continue to get very serious consideration.”
Though it was revealed this week Rams owner Stan Kroenke recently purchased 60 acres near Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, fueling speculation of a move back, Goodell said London — home to three regular-season NFL games this year and next — is the leader in any race to change the league’s franchise makeup.
“I believe [London is] further down the road because [the city is] now three games into it,” he said. “What our next step is, I don’t know. That’s something we’re going to have to evaluate.We believe that we will continue to grow there and that’s going to take work.”
Goodell was much more stern on taking marijuana off the league’s list of banned substance. That has become a hot topic since the states of Washington and Colorado legalized it, and Goodell recently said it is possible medical marijuana might be allowed to help with concussions.
But recreational use by players that wouldn’t be penalized? Not happening anytime soon.
“Our experts right now are not indicating that we should change our policy in any way,” said Goodell, who is also subject to random drug tests just like his own players. “We are not actively considering that at this point in time. But down the road sometime that is something we would never take off the table if it could benefit our players.”
Among the other topics addressed by Goodell:
- He praised the work done by the New York-New Jersey Super Bowl Committee and said he expects Super Bowl XLVIII to come off flawlessly Sunday at MetLife Stadium, but he put a damper on the committee’s expressed hope of getting into the game’s “rotation” once every 10 years.
“There’s such a demand for Super Bowls right now,” he said. “The number of cities that are going to get multiple Super Bowls at one time, I think are incredibly limited.”
- The Redskins’ nickname: “This is the name of a football team that has had that name for 80 years, and has presented the name in a way that has honored Native Americans. We are being respectful of people who disagree, but let’s not forget this is the name of a football team.”
- 49ers tight end Vernon Davis attended the press conference and asked Goodell why the NFL doesn’t provide players free medical care for life after their careers are over, but Goodell avoided the question by saying that issue is part of continued talks with the union.
- Goodell said the league is considering going to a centralized system for instant replay where decisions would be made from NFL headquarters, much like the National Hockey League already does.
- Goodell said the NFL is considering the formulation of a league-wide player code of conduct in response to the Dolphins’ bullying controversy.