The discussions toward what seems inevitable, an 18-game regular season in the NFL have begun, reports the Washington Post.
“We have talked at a very, very, very high level superficially, with a recognition … about, ‘Yeah, this is something that we should be talking about. And we should really kick the tires and understand what else goes into that decision-making process,'” NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell told the newspaper. “Where does the 18th game come from? I think the foregone conclusion is well, you just grab it, like, in what would otherwise be [preseason games] in August. You play it forward.
“But these are details that really need to be fleshed out. But again, there are other economic, health and safety matters that also need to be clear to our members before there’s ever an agreement about an 18th game.”
Of course, there will be high-level discussions about how to work an extra regular-season game into the CBA. Players already are concerned about the injuries the 17-game season has seen and how an 18-game season will impact them financially.
“The simple fact of the matter is when you have a growing enterprise and there are opportunities within that intervening period of time where progress could be made and you could tweak the existing CBA legal document, why wouldn’t you want to do that?” Howell said. “So whether it’s field surface, whether it’s the [offseason] schedule, if you want to call that formal — I call it bargaining. I call it amendments. I call it updates to what is now a living document called a CBA. Yeah, I want to be able to have our membership in a position to jump on it when we can, not wait until their playing days are done and it’s like you go through the cycle all over again.”
Would this mean a second bye for each of the 32 NFL teams? How would it impact roster levels? Just a couple questions that will be addressed before this becomes close to reality.
The 17-game regular season was instituted in 2021.