NFL
Will 18th game be added to NFL regular season? Commissioner in favour
Speaking this week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he’d rather have more regular-season games and fewer preseason warm-ups.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says he’s open to adding another game to the regular season and shortening the league’s preseason fixture schedule.
What did Goodell say about extending NFL regular season?
NFL teams currently play three preseason games, before an 18-week regular season in which each franchise has 17 fixtures. In an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, however, Goodell said it would not be “unreasonable” to switch to a format in which teams play 18 regular-season games after just two warm-ups.
“I think we’re good at 17 now, but listen: we’re looking at how we continue,” he said. “I’m not a fan of the preseason - I don’t think we need three games. And I don’t think these guys [the fans] like it, either.
“I’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular-season game, any day. That’s just picking quality, right? If we got to 18 and two, that’s not an unreasonable thing.”
Regular-season change would need NFLPA agreement
Since 1935, the NFL has regularly modified the design of the league’s fixture schedule, with the current format introduced in 2021. Prior to the most recent change, teams played four preseason clashes before contesting 16 games across a 17-week regular season.
However, modifications to the NFL calendar won’t happen just because the commissioner says so. These changes can only take place if the league negotiates a new collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union, the NFLPA. The current deal, signed in 2020, is due to run until 2030.
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How would 18-game season affect Super Bowl?
Were the regular season to be extended, Goodell noted in his McAfee Show interview, the date of the Super Bowl would be affected - and the change would benefit fans.
According to the commissioner, an 18-game format would lead the NFL’s championship game to be pushed back by a week, from its present slot on the second Sunday in February. In the US, the third Sunday in February is the day before the annual Presidents’ Day holiday, meaning that the Super Bowl would be held during a three-day weekend for many American workers.