Here’s what’s happening at the NFL’s spring league meeting

NFL owners are meeting Atlanta, where they’ve already voted on two new rules.

The NFL owners have convened this week for an annual league meeting that has already included a new team owner and two rule changes. It will also likely end with the announcements of a future draft site or two, as well as Super Bowl host cities.

With the majority of the 2018 offseason over, the May 21-23 meeting is one of the last things on the calendar before a couple months of absolutely nothing.

Here’s what you can expect to happen this week at the league meeting in Atlanta, and what has already happened:

Two rules were passed

The new kickoff rule is actually really fun

There’s always hand-wringing about the NFL changing rules to make the game safer, but this is a case that could make football more exciting too. It’s a win-win.

Removing kickoffs altogether would be an unpopular decision. But the reality is they’re not that exciting. The new rule removes the distance between blockers, making kick returns more like punt returns.

It’s no surprise the proposition passed, and the result will likely be fewer head-to-head collisions and dangerous plays. The fact that it’ll also probably result in more entertaining kickoff returns is a bonus.

Ejections are now reviewable

A tweak in the language of replay review rules allows officials to double-check the disqualification of a player.

This change goes hand in hand with a rule that passed in March that allowed officials to make ejections after replays. In this case, the opposite would be true, and officials could undo an ejection if a replay proved it was unwarranted.

A similar rule is already in place in college football. Targeting results in an immediate ejection, but officials automatically review the play and can undo the disqualification after replay.

It’s a logical addition to the rulebook.

Other items on the agenda

Supreme Court’s gambling ruling

A week before the NFL’s meeting, the United States Supreme Court ruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) is unconstitutional, clearing the way for states to individually legalize gambling on sports.

For the NFL, that could mean a future where legalized gambling is a huge part of the football viewing experience. And it could be embraced by the league.

But first, NFL owners will have plenty of discussions about how the league will deal with the Supreme Court decision. The conversation was already happening among owners, who have pushed for Congress to pass a framework for betting regulations. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is on board too:

Talk will ramp up now that the door is open for a significant change to the league’s approach to gambling.

The owners approved the Panthers sale

Pittsburgh Steelers minority owner David Tepper agreed to purchase the Carolina Panthers from Jerry Richardson for $2.275 billion — a record amount for a pro sports franchise.

All that was left is to dot the i’s and cross the t’s with a vote to approve the sale. Tepper needed approval of 24 NFL owners, but the vote was unanimous in his favor.

Draft site announced for 2019 (but probably not 2020)

The NFL announced in February that the five finalists to host the 2019 and 2020 NFL Drafts are Nashville, Denver, Cleveland/Canton, Kansas City, and Las Vegas.

Nashville’s raucous street party to reveal new uniforms in April made the city the reported host for the 2019 NFL Draft, which will be officially announced at the owners meeting.

It’d make sense if the league named the host of the 2020 NFL Draft too, but that’s looking unlikely:

Since Nashville is expected to be the host in 2019, that would narrow the candidates to Denver, Cleveland/Canton, Kansas City, and Las Vegas for 2020.

Canton may have a better chance at 2020, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the NFL. The league was founded in September 1920 in Canton and the city is now the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Super Bowl hosts for 2023, 2024 unveiled

The next four Super Bowl cities are set: Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, and Los Angeles. The following two — Super Bowl LVII in Arizona and Super Bowl LVIII in New Orleans — are supposed to be announced at the meeting after the owners vote:

Cities will no longer have to submit Super Bowl bids. Instead, the NFL will offer the hosting gig to a city.

The Pro Bowl is also expected to be discussed at the meeting:

National anthem discussions

In March, several owners believed the May meeting would be the time to find a resolution regarding players protesting for social justice during the national anthem.

“We’re going to talk about it more today, look at it in the May meeting and have more conversations with the players about it,” Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney told SB Nation’s Thomas George.

But now that May is here, a resolution appears unlikely. Don Banks of Patriots.com says it would be a surprise if a conclusion was reached by league owners this week. A finalized agreement on a social-justice partnership was reached, though.

According to Judy Battista of NFL.com, owners have different opinions about how to handle protests. Few players demonstrated during the national anthem by the end of the 2017 season, but there’s always the possibility that new events or more provocation from Donald Trump could incite a resurgence of protests:

At least one owner believes the league is hesitant to create a sweeping rule of any kind because the controversy had quieted down, and there seems little good to be gained from provoking either the players or the president with an edict. Still, there are owners who are concerned about heading into a new season -- the next full owners’ meeting is in October -- without a rule providing guidance, fearing that the league could be left flat-footed if news events cause players to want to resume protests.

It will still be a subject for discussion at the meeting as the owners try to arrive on any kind of agreement, whether it’s making teams stay in the locker room during the anthems or letting teams decide what to do on an individual basis. There’s a new idea on the table, too — and it’s terrible:

It would appear the likeliest scenario is that nothing happens and NFL owners hope the subject fades away on its own, though at least one expects a solution:

What happened at the league meeting in March?

The May meeting is typically the time to pick up whatever didn’t get done at the league meeting in March.

At that meeting, held in Orlando, several rules were tweaked. Click here for a full recap of the March meeting, but the most important updates were three rule changes:

The catch rule finally got fixed

Football’s most controversial rule was simplified to a three-stop process to determine whether or not a catch was made:

1. Control
2. Two feet down, or another body part
3. A football move

Under the new standard, Dez Bryant caught it and so many other close plays would’ve been much easier to call. The new catch rule will help us enjoy great catches again.

A new targeting rule was passed

The addition of a new helmet-to-helmet to rule was a little unexpected in March, but came together quickly. Competition committee chairman Rich McKay broke it down in simple terms when he explained it to reporters.

“This is simply, if you lower your head to initiate contact and you make contact with an opponent, it’s a foul,” McKay said.

The question now is how strict NFL officials will be about players lowering their head. Many of the NFL’s most popular defensive players complained about the new standard and believe it will be difficult to enforce consistently.

“It’s ridiculous,” Richard Sherman told USA Today. “Like telling a driver if you touch the lane lines, you’re getting a ticket.”

According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, those concerns have been assuaged in meetings with players and coaches. League executives have pulled back on expectations that the new rule will have a drastic effect on the game and assured players that it will only be called in obvious and/or flagrant circumstances.

Players can be ejected after replay

Last year, one-game suspensions were given to Rob Gronkowski, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mike Evans, Thomas Davis, Andrew Sendejo, and Danny Trevathan for illegal hits, illegal blocks, and unnecessary roughness penalties that didn’t result in ejections.

The NFL hopes that by giving officials the chance to eject players after a replay review, it can reduce those kind of suspensions and punish players on the spot for their actions, if deemed egregious.