As part of the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement, the league will be adding 2 additional playoff teams. With only the team with the best record in each conference getting to a bye — there will now be one additional telecast on Saturday and Sunday of Wild Card Weekend.
Wild Card Weekend for the 2020 season will consist of three games on Saturday, January 9th, and three games on Sunday, January 10th, 2021.
CBS will broadcast one additional Wild Card game on January 10th, which will also be streamed on CBS All Access. They will also have a kid’s focused telecast on Nickelodeon, which is now part of the combined ViacomCBS. NBC will be airing an additional Wild Card game on Sunday, January 10th at 8:15pm ET. This game will be streamed on their streaming service Peacock, which will launch nationally in July.
As part of the new deal, it is expected that the league will expand to a 17 game regular season, but that won’t take place until the 2021 season at the earliest. The NFL deals with their media partners expire in 2022, so this is just the start of what will be a potential change on the horizon in the NFL rights landscape.