The NFL is reportedly going to push the NFLPA to agree to (another) expansion of the regular season schedule.
According to a report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the NFL will seek the NFLPA’s approval to expand the regular season schedule from 17 games to 18 in the next labor deal:
“The push to 18 regular-season games hasn’t been abandoned, health and safety concerns be damned.
The first hint of it came when Browns G.M. Andrew Berry explained on PFT Live that Cleveland and other teams are proposing a delay of the trade deadline by 14 days, from the Tuesday after Week 8 to the Tuesday after Week 10. Berry said that one week was aimed at accounting for the extra week created by the 17th regular-season game — and that the second week was in anticipation of further expansion of the regular season, to 18 games.
That happened on Tuesday. In talking to folks after that, I mentioned Berry’s plan, with the anticipation of another game. The reaction was, basically, “Yeah. That’s coming.”
The current NFL CBA runs through the 2030 season, so a potential expansion to an 18-game regular season is still a while away. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of time for commissioner Roger Goodell and all 32 owners time to sell their pitch to the union.
The NFL expanded the regular season from 16 to 17 games during the 2021 season. This marked the league’s first regular season schedule expansion since 1978, when the NFL went from 14 games to 16.
Obviously, player safety is going to be the main concern from the union’s perspective. But more games ultimately mean more money, and that factor alone could be enough for the players to sign off on the league’s pitch.
