In 2021, the NFL switched to a 17-game regular season for the first time in the history of the league.
It was the first change to the number of regular-season games played made by the NFL since they went from 14 regular-season games in 1977 to 16 in 1978.
Now, it seems like the league is hoping to increase the number of regular-season games played by each team once again, at least according to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio (via Dov Kleiman on Twitter).
The #NFL is rumored to be looking to push the NFLPA to extend the season to 18 regular season games, per @NBCSports
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/SLaEcZSJpd
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 3, 2024
According to Florio, there was a sense at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine that the league is likely going to attempt to increase the regular-season schedule from 17 games to 18 games in the future.
This isn’t something that is going to happen in a year or two, but Florio expects it to be negotiated when the league and the NFLPA meet to agree to a new labor deal.
The current labor deal between the NFL and the NFLPA doesn’t expire until March of 2030, so we’ve still got quite a bit of time until an 18-game regular-season schedule in the league likely becomes an actual reality.
If (and it sounds like when) the NFL switches to an 18-game regular-season schedule, it will be interesting to see how they construct it.
Will the league agree to let teams have two bye weeks, and will they decrease the number of preseason games each year from three to two?
It’s also possible that the NFL could increase the number of teams that can qualify for the playoffs from seven to eight in order to make an 18-game season more enticing for the players.
We’ll see what happens in six years.
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