IRVING, Texas -- There is a fairly strong faction of NFL owners who favor having the newly implemented rules for overtime in the postseason also apply to the regular season.
They believe there should be uniformity between the regular season and postseason, and will discuss that topic during meetings here Tuesday.
The question is: Will the discussion give way to a vote?
According to multiple NFL sources, the only way that will happen is if Commissioner Roger Goodell, who wants the overtime format to be the same for the regular season and postseason, believes there are enough votes to make it a reality.
"It's entirely up to the commissioner," said one club executive who requested anonymity.
Making case for regular season
When owners approved the new OT format for the 2010 postseason, Steve Wyche immediately made the case for extending the rule to the regular season. **Here was his argument ...**
What Goodell will do was unclear on Monday. At least one league executive thinks Goodell believes he has the votes, and that owners will approve for the regular season what they approved for the postseason at the NFL Annual Meeting in March: Having both teams get at least one chance to possess the ball in OT if the team receiving the kickoff doesn't score a touchdown on the opening drive.
However, there have been other reports saying the commissioner isn't so sure. If Goodell has any doubts about an overtime rules change for the regular season passing, he is expected to table the matter and it wouldn't be addressed again until after the 2010 season.
"I think there are a lot of people that are interested in having it extend to the regular season, including us," Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II said. "It'll be interesting to see. Back in March, there was a lot of sentiment to do it, but for various reasons the commissioner felt we should wait and discuss it in the spring. We think we should either have the same rule for postseason and regular season or not make the change."
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft also would "like to have one rule all the time." He'd be open to having the regular-season overtime rule agree with the postseason on a one-year experimental basis, if that's what it took to get it passed.
"If they want to experiment, I'd go along with that," Kraft said. "But eventually, it should be the same for both, in my opinion."
The Steelers actually had a different adjustment in mind. Rooney said they wanted a simple rule where both teams had one possession, but still considered the concept that was voted upon in March "an improvement."
Several NFL coaches were unhappy that owners did away with sudden-death overtime for the postseason. They felt it only added pressure on them by giving them more critical decisions to make, such as whether to go for a winning touchdown on fourth down in the red zone on the opening possession of OT rather than a field goal that would give the opponent a chance to have the ball.
Some coaches also complained that the vote for the postseason overtime change came while they were taking part in a golf outing so that they would be unable to influence owners with their opposition.
But now most of the coaches apparently have had a change of heart, mainly because they believe that OT rules should not be different in the postseason.
"I know our coach (Mike Tomlin) and some of the other coaches are really concerned about having different rules that you have to plan for a different kind of strategy in the postseason than you do in the regular season," Rooney said.
Added Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian, a member of the NFL's Competition Committee: "The reason to put it in is so the coaches can have an opportunity to deal with it during the course of the regular season so that they don't have to change strategic decisions in the playoffs. And, while there aren't that many (overtime) games during the course of the long season, I think it's fair to say that most of the members of the committee felt that was a valid reason."
One fundamental difference that isn't expected to change is that postseason games that go to overtime will be played until a winner is determined but regular-season games can end in a tie. That is because the television networks do not want Sunday games that kick off at 1 p.m. Eastern time dragging too far into those that start at 4 p.m., and they don't want the 4 p.m. starts dragging into primetime programming.
18-game season growing legs
More and more owners seem to be coming around to the idea of expanding the regular season from 16 to 18 games.
The matter is expected to be addressed during the meeting but will not be put to a vote. If there is enough of a consensus to add two regular-season games, it is something that would likely factor into negotiations with the NFL Players Association for a new collective bargaining agreement because of the NFLPA's expected demand for greater compensation.
The most commonly discussed plan is to remove two games from the preseason.
Still, there are some owners and club executives who have expressed concerns that, even with a shorter preseason, player injuries would spike from the increase in games that count.
"We're trying to keep an open mind," Rooney said. "We started out with some concerns about it. We think our regular season kind of works pretty well right now, but, hey, we've (seen) expansions over the years. I remember when we played 12 games. I remember when we played 14 games. So I think it's something that we need to think about and talk about. We haven't really made our mind up yet where we are."
No conflict of interest
Make no mistake: Jonathan Tisch's sole interest when it comes to the NFL owners' choice for the location of the 2014 Super Bowl is to do everything in his power to persuade them to pick New York/New Jersey.
After all, besides being the New York Giants' treasurer, Tisch is co-chairman of the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl bid committee.
However, Tisch also is chief executive officer of Loews Hotels. One of the company's properties is on Miami Beach. South Florida is one of the two finalists bidding for the 2014 Super Bowl.
"(A South Florida Super Bowl) would obviously be good for business," Tisch said. But that takes a deep back seat to his desire to help make history as part of the effort to bring the Super Bowl to an open stadium in a climate where the average temperature is below a minimum of 50 degrees for that time of year.
Somebody has to make the big ideas work
Milt Ahlerich, the NFL's vice president of security, faces a fairly enormous task overseeing the security operation of any Super Bowl.
When you place an event that large in a city as large as New York, you raise security challenges to unprecedented levels.
Ahlerich is well aware of that, which is why he is particularly interested to see the outcome of today's vote by NFL owners to determine whether New York/New Jersey ends up with the 2014 Super Bowl.
"When the commissioner comes up with these (out-of-the-box) ideas, we say, 'That's going to be hard,'" Ahlerich said of discussions that also involve Frank Supovitz, who as the league's senior vice president of events oversees the planning and logistics for the Super Bowl. "And the commissioner will say, 'That's what we've got you knuckleheads for.'"
