Over the past few years, Playoff rules have repeatedly come into question. Sports like Hockey & Football have seen their Playoff rules questioned over how good they are for the sport. These moments have disappointed fans recently as recently as last weekend in the NFL Divisional Round game between the Bills and Chiefs.
The Chiefs overcame the Bills in their Divisional Round playoff game. But, the way they won was the problem. The game was coming down to the wire, with both teams scoring touchdown after touchdown. Both teams were tied at the end of regulation, and they went to overtime. That is where the problem began. For many years, the NFL overtime rules have been questioned for how fair they can be. In an offensive game like this one, you would hope to see them duel right to the end. But, the overtime rules have the game end if the first team scores a touchdown. This is precisely what happened as the Chiefs scored a touchdown and won the game. Bills Quarterback Josh Allen was not even given a chance to answer. This is disappointing for fans because the NCAA Football overtime rules allow the teams to go back and forth until a winner is decided.
A similar problem occurred during the 2018 Women’s Hockey gold medal game. This game ended regulation with both teams tied, and after a period of overtime, the game was left to a shootout. The winner of the game is irrelevant because fans were adamant that a final game should not end in a skills competition. This has also happened to Canada’s World Junior team in recent years. Imagine the NHL Playoffs ending like that; they would never let that happen. So, fans believe neither should the national competitions.
Sticking with hockey, the NHL has not been entirely free of their problems with Playoffs. The Tampa Bay Lightning recently took advantage of a loophole that allows them to be over the salary cap in the Playoffs. This is because the NHL fails to rule that teams must be under the cap in the Playoffs. This allowed players to come off injuries and play for the Tampa Bay Lightning, leaving them nearly $18-million-dollars over the salary cap. This loophole gave the Lightning a massive advantage over the rest of the playoffs, which led to them winning the Stanley Cup.
Hockey writer Rob Couch shares more details about why the no Salary Cap rule is a problem. “The NHL should not erase the salary cap come playoffs and allow players to come off the LTIR (long term injured reserve). This allows teams to acquire players at a higher cap before the deadline to replace what they currently have on LTIR; then, they are way over the cap come playoffs. Teams don’t want to have their top players out until playoffs, but it just works out that way sometimes, and it puts other teams at a disadvantage. If the cap remains the same all year, no team will purposely or inadvertently gain an advantage. Especially with the flat cap recently, it puts teams at a real disadvantage.”
Despite the outrage, none of these events have caused any sort of change. There are still shootouts in medal games, the Salary Cap remains a problem in the NHL Playoffs, and the NFL remains with the same overtime rules. Maybe these rules could be improved over time, but it looks like we are stuck with them for the time being.
