NFL Owner Meetings Take Place This Week

The Bay Area will not only host Super Bowl 50, but also hosts this year's NFL Owner's Spring Meeting (May 18-20). The San Francisco Ritz Carlton has the honor of being the chosen location for the gathering of the NFL's most powerful men, who, among other things, will discuss the following:

Changing the Extra Point Procedure

For quite some time now, the extra point has been a topic of discussion. Today or tomorrow this discussion might come to an end. After all, there have been three proposals to change the current procedure. The New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and the Competition Committee all want to move the PAT kick to the 15-yard line, making it a 33-yard try instead of 20-yard one.

While the Patriots want to keep the current format of a failed kick becoming a dead ball, the Eagles and the Committee want to make those returnable by the defensive team resulting, if a score, in a one-point swing.

The discussion about the two point conversion is similar. The Patriots do not want to change the current format (with the line of scrimmage being the 2-yard line), while the Eagles want to move it to the 1 and enable turnovers, which, if taken to the other end zone, result in a two-point score for the defensive team. The Committee wants the same but from the 2-yard line.

The NFL and Los Angeles

The last time an NFL team called the City of Los Angeles its home was 1994, when both the Rams and the Raiders played in the country's second largest market. Of course, both franchises left the city after the 1994 season to play in St. Louis and Oakland, respectively. Both teams, however, are – together with the San Diego Chargers – in the discussion to relocate to Los Angeles.

This week's meeting will not result in a definitive answer, though, since neither team could apply for relocation prior to January 1, 2016. The meeting rather works as a tool of information about the process.

Searching for Super Bowl Host Cities

Super Bowl LII will be hosted in Minneapolis in February 2018. Who will host the Super Bowls beyond game number 52 is up for grabs but we will know after this week, who wants to host them (the finalists and bid-winners will be announced at a later stage). Possible venues include Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis or the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, who were both beaten out by Minneapolis last year.

The Thursday Night Package with CBS

After the 2015 season, the NFL's Thursday Night package contract with CBS runs out and it is time to either extend it or search for a possible replacement broadcaster. The committee in charge of dealing with the broadcasters is currently headed by Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots. Speaking of whom...

Deflategate

Chances are slim that we will hear any official word about the scandal/farce coming out of the meeting. However, it is still intriguing due to it marking the first time that the NFL's and the Patriots' leadership ranks face each other after the release of Ted Wells' report and the subsequent punishments handed down by the league.

As Adam Schefter reported yesterday, both parties are involved in "back-channel conversations" to potentially resolve their differences without having to go through an appeal-process. We will have to wait and see what happens there.

One thing seems certain, though: due to the nature of the meetings and the media's hunger for Deflategate-news, be prepared for a lot of articles including the words "according to a source" – no matter how accurate those sources will eventually turn out to be.