NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced final spring that he needed the league to finally shift to an 18-game common season. He felt that 18 regular-season video games and two preseason contests per staff had been “not unreasonable.”
Unsurprisingly, nothing that has occurred since then modified Goodell’s thoughts relating to this topic.
Matthew Townsend of Bloomberg reported that in an interview with Bloomberg Tv, which aired on Friday, Roger Goodell acknowledged that including an 18th sport to the NFL’s common season is the “logical” subsequent step for all events concerned.
“We’d maintain inside that 20-game framework,” Goodell mentioned about pairing 18 regular-season matchups with two preseason video games per membership. “We went to 16 and 4, and now 17 and three. So 18 and two is a logical step.”
It is hardly been a secret because the NFL moved to the so-called 17-and-three format in 2021 that it will be a matter of when, not if, homeowners would look so as to add an 18th regular-season sport to the schedule. In June 2024, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports activities Illustrated mentioned the league might get the NFL Gamers Affiliation to comply with an expanded common season “loads sooner” than when networks can choose out of broadcast contracts after the 2029 marketing campaign.
The NFLPA should comply with such a proposal per the phrases of the collective bargaining settlement that expires in 2031. NFL insider Mike Jones of The Athletic recommended this previous July that the 2 sides weren’t all that near agreeing to an altered schedule. It’s believed the gamers will ask for groups to obtain two byes per marketing campaign and for rosters to be expanded earlier than they settle for an 18-game format.
Star gamers routinely skip meaningless preseason video games to keep away from accidents, and such contests are sometimes held in half or mostly-empty stadiums. Some insiders are satisfied the league will look to scrap that portion of the calendar and transfer to a format of 20 regular-season video games and nil exhibition contests earlier than a brand new CBA is signed.
