It has been just a few years since the NFL shifted to a 17-game regular season schedule over the course of 18 weeks.
Now that the league has adjusted, the push to expand to an 18-game schedule has been a hot topic this offseason.
New York Giants co-owner John Mara was asked about the league possibly extending the schedule at the NFL owners’ meetings on Wednesday and admitted he wasn’t too crazy about the idea.
However, Mara acknowledged, he may be in the minority.
“I can’t say I’m necessarily crazy about extending the season,” Mara said, via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “I worry more about player fatigue and wear and tear on the players moving forward. That’s one of the reasons why we have to have the discussion with (the players union).”
Obviously, from a business perspective, the extended schedule would bring in more revenue for both the teams and the league.
With the Giants being one of the more injured teams in the NFL over the last few years, perhaps that’s why Mara feels strongly about the negatives that would come with an 18-game schedule.
It’s unclear if the season would start a week earlier, trimming the preseason down to two weeks, or if the season would be extended by one week.
If it’s the latter and the NFL doesn’t eliminate the week off for the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl, it would push the Super Bowl to President’s Day weekend, allowing fans to enjoy a day off following The Big Game.
With the traction this topic has gained this offseason, it is not out of the realm of possibility that this could be voted on next offseason and begin during the 2026 season.
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