Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathgod
Yup. Nobody wants to be the team with 96 points missing out while 2 teams with 91 make it in.
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But also, nobody wants to be the team with 91 points missing out because a team from the other conference happened to be better.
The overall odds of making the playoffs don't change, but the playoff bracket itself gets more complicated, there's more travel, and more expense. Team owners care a lot more about those things than about whether some group of fans think it's fair.
There were seasons in the 21-team league when every team in the Norris Division was .500 or below, yet four of them made the playoffs. There was one year that all six teams in the Patrick Division were above .500, but two of those teams missed. To the owners, stuff like that is just the price of doing business.