NEWSLETTER
An official proposal for the NFL moving to an 18-game schedule is coming sooner than later.
But first, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell floated a trial balloon during an appearance on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show during the network’s coverage of the 2024 NFL Draft:
“I think we’re good at 17 now. But listen, we’re looking at how we continue. I’m not a fan of the preseason. I don’t think we need preseason. … But the reality is I think I’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular-season game any day. That’s just picking quality, right? So, if we get to 18 and two, that’s not an unreasonable thing. The other thing it does, that I thought you were going to, that ends up on Presidents Day weekend, which is a three-day weekend, which makes the game Sunday night, and you have Monday off.”
Ahhhh! Leave it to the NFL to float the idea of an 18-game season during draft weekend.
I can’t front. The idea of having Super Bowl Sunday fall on a day before a Monday holiday is a golden idea. I mean, I’ll still be here working to give you fine folks post-Super Bowl content. But I imagine the rest of you would relish not having to stress about piecing yourselves together to be functional at your places of employment on the Monday after the Super Bowl.
NFL schedule changes could be coming in the future if Roger Goodell gets his way
This is impeccable timing by The Commish. There simply isn’t a better time to pitch more football games than during a point in the offseason where you’re two months removed from the last meaningful game and four months until the next game of consequence. Presenting the option of more football games while folks who have been starved for football content since February are getting their fix on draft weekend is quite the chess play. Kudos, Mr. Commissioner. Well played.
Now, comes the hard part: Getting it through and approved.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that NFL team owners “largely support” the 18-game regular season plan. So much so that the league will try to get the NFLPA to agree to it before this current CBA expires after the 2030 season comes to an end. And if The Commissioner already has the backing of owners, it is only a matter of time before we get 18-game regular seasons.
An 18-game schedule isn’t a novel concept. Back in September 2019, NFL owners were angling for an 18-game regular-season schedule but ultimately ditched it for a 17-game plan that included an expanded postseason. Five months later, a 17-game regular season proposal that came with shorter preseason and playoff expansion came together. One month after that, the NFL’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement gave us 17-games, bigger rosters, increased revenue sharing, and so much more. And yet, it was hard to not come back to a 17-game schedule because you knew in your soul that an odd number of wasn’t going to last forever.
The NFL still has to cross the finish line with that one. Or, to put it in football terms, they have to get the nose of that football to the plane of the goal line before we can start counting on an 18-game schedule. So … don’t go scheduling around having President’s Day off after a thrilling Chicago Bears Super Bowl victory led by quarterback Caleb Williams and receiver Rome Odunze just yet. But if you want to look ahead and get your hopes up for a longer football season, I won’t stop you.
