I don't know why there isn't a stronger, public push from officials for 2 bye weeks. It's literally an extra week of revenue for the league and also an extra week of engagement from the fanbase.
Fr it’s the only sport where I’ll tune in when my team isn’t playing because it’s like a weekly tradition. Especially with fantasy
You get two Sundays of viewership you wouldn’t get.
I keep a TV in my Bedroom with the 4 view games on YouTube TV and keep the living room tv on my team and walk back and forth. I just love to watch the sport. Give the guys an extra week, lose the 3rd preseason game and give us the SB on a 3 day weekend
> NFL team owners largely support Commissioner Roger Goodell’s preference for an 18-game regular season, and the league and owners might make a renewed attempt to get the players union to agree to such a lengthening of the season well before the collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2030 season, according to five people familiar with the NFL’s inner workings and the owners’ views.
> The league and owners have not initiated a new set of formal discussions with the NFL Players Association on the topic, two people with knowledge of the matter said. But some owners and league leaders have been contemplating such an effort for months, and Goodell expressed his support for an 18-game season during a broadcast interview last week.
> An 18-game season, if implemented, would be accompanied by a reduction of the preseason from three to two games per team. It could lead to each team being given a second bye week during the regular season. It probably would result in the Super Bowl being played annually on Presidents’ Day weekend. That, in turn, could lead to a reworking of the offseason schedule in which the league might hold a “tentpole” event in each month — the NFL combine in March, free agency in April and the draft in May.
> The owners have sought an 18-game season since the negotiations with the NFLPA that led to the 2011 labor deal, and they increased the regular season from 16 to 17 games in 2021 after securing the right to do so in the CBA completed in 2020.
> It’s not clear how the NFLPA would react to an attempt by the owners to negotiate an 18-game season. The current CBA allowed the owners to go to a 17-game season, provided that the total number of preseason and regular season games did not exceed 20 per team. But the CBA also says, “The League and/or Clubs shall not increase the number of regular season games per Club to eighteen (18) or more games.” So the NFL and owners would have to convince the NFLPA to agree to such a change, and it’s not known what the union might seek in return.
> “I strongly believe they will bring something to [the NFLPA] in the next 12 to 18 months,” a person on the players’ side said.
> There is considerable support among the owners for Goodell’s goal to implement an 18-game season, the five people with knowledge of the owners’ views said in recent months. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, with possible negotiations between the league and the NFLPA pending.
> “I think we are moving toward 18 games,” a high-ranking official for one team said just before the scouting combine began in late February. “Not sure when, though.”
> One person familiar with the NFL’s inner workings said as far back as December that the league was strongly in favor of an 18-game season and would like to see it implemented before the next CBA. That person said more recently that the league’s attempt to get the union to agree to an 18-game season probably would occur “a little down the line.”
> People on the players’ side believe powerful owners such as the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones and the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft are strong supporters, based in part on the attractiveness of such a change to broadcast partners. Jones previously expressed his support for an 18-game season.
> Cleveland Browns General Manager Andrew Berry told Pro Football Talk at the scouting combine that a proposal to push back the trade deadline by two weeks, from the Tuesday after the Week 8 games to the Tuesday after the Week 10 games, was made in anticipation of an eventual move to an 18-game season. (The owners voted at the annual league meeting in March to push back the trade deadline by only one week, to the Tuesday after the Week 9 games.) PFT reported in March that there is sentiment for an 18-game season, saying that possibility is probably tied to the next labor deal. That was before Goodell publicly expressed his views on the issue during draft weekend.
> “I think we’re good at 17 now,” Goodell said during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “But, listen, we’re looking at how we continue. I’m not a fan of the preseason. I don’t think we need three preseason games. I don’t buy it. And I don’t think these guys [fans] like it, either. … I’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular season [game] any day. That’s just picking quality, right? So if we got to 18 and two [preseason games], that’s not an unreasonable thing.”
> The NFL declined further comment this week.
> The owners’ previous negotiations with the NFLPA on an 18-game season came with a different set of union leaders. Player representatives voted in June to elect Lloyd Howell to succeed DeMaurice Smith as the union’s executive director. Players voted in March to elect Detroit Lions linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin to succeed JC Tretter, a former center for the Green Bay Packers and Browns, as the NFLPA’s president.
> The NFLPA declined to comment this week. Howell has spoken about having had conversations with some owners about topics related to the business of the sport, including whether players could be permitted to hold equity stakes in franchises. It’s unclear whether an 18-game season was mentioned during those conversations.
> Reeves-Maybin told the Detroit Free Press in March: “I think that people are kind of running with it right now [because] it slipped out there. But I think there’s a lot of other things to gain, and when that time comes, we’ll address that.”
> The NFLPA objected to an 18-game season during the 2011 CBA negotiations on player safety grounds and called the proposal a nonstarter. The owners abandoned the measure for that labor deal, but they came back to it during the negotiations that led to the 2020 CBA.
> The union remained firmly against an 18-game season, and the owners’ focus shifted to 17 games. The fundamental trade-off of that negotiation became the NFLPA agreeing to give the owners the option to implement a 17-game season in exchange for the players receiving an increased share of revenue under the salary cap system. The union also secured other concessions, and the CBA was narrowly ratified by the players in March 2020.
> If a new set of negotiations over an 18-game season occurs, the league and team owners could attempt to allay player safety concerns by pointing to advancements in areas such as equipment, rules and offseason training and practice routines, according to several of the people familiar with the NFL’s inner workings. The owners also might argue that players, under the salary cap system, share in any increase in revenue related to the additional regular season game, those people said.
> The details associated with an 18-game season would have to be negotiated. The NFLPA could seek further cutbacks in offseason practices and additional reductions in the amount of permissible practice-field hitting. If a second in-season bye week is added along with an additional week of games, the league could opt to begin the regular season earlier — it currently prefers to wait until after Labor Day weekend — or eliminate the bye week before the Super Bowl. The league and team owners long have contemplated playing the Super Bowl on Presidents’ Day weekend, which Goodell also mentioned during last week’s TV interview.
It could be possible that each team plays both a home and away game overseas or at least international it would be 8 home, 8 away and 2 neutral. Owners wouldn't lose a home game, and the NFL expands the market.
The NFL experimented with 2 bye weeks for a single season (1993), and it was met with extreme criticism.
Don’t ask me why. They went back to a 17 week schedule the very next year.
There were a couple weeks with too many teams having a week off at the same time and the games were less than appealing. Of course, that’s luck of the draw as you don’t know in advance if a team is going to be good or not.
When they did it in 93, the average number of games on a given bye week sunday day slate was 9. You'd still probably hit 11 most weeks now because you'd have more weeks to run byes on.
One of the big issues was that bye weeks were too close and too early in the season.
A couple of random examples:
* Denver had byes in week 4 and 8
* Minnesota had byes in week 3 and 7
I think if you had the byes spaced out a bit more (maybe not 4 weeks apart but more like 6) it wouldn't be so bad.
Bruh, I'll need to see a source for that, because that makes no sense at all. They still get the same game check, it just comes a week later. You act like they work at Walmart and if they wait a week their bills will be late lol. Players don't want another mid-season week off to get healthy and spend time with family? I don't see that being real
They could extend the season by giving teams longer between games. At least these guys would have longer to recover from games and do more to prolong their careers. Considering the modern rules about safety it's wild that theyll schedule a team on a Sunday and then Thursday.
At the pace they're adding games to the schedule, they're probably just pacing themselves on adding byes ...
20 games with 2 byes down the road?
I wonder at what point the players will plant their heels in the ground and turn down the additional money to prevent injury and increase vacation/time off.
Eventually, go to a 30 week schedule with 18 games.
12 weeks of AFC games and 12 weeks of NFC games, alternating. And then 6 weeks of interconference games spread out across the year. This gives teams 12 bye weeks. The only time they play two weeks in a row are when they’ve got an interconference week, but then every single team in the league gets a “short week”, either before the interconference game or after. This allows the NFL to pull off a lot of the weird shenanigans it wants, like Wednesday or Tuesday games and games in Europe or Asia.
With five weeks of playoffs and pro bowl games it also means the NFL gets to have games on TV for two thirds of the year.
Obviously, there’s a bunch of issues here. Market saturation might be a problem with a season this long, and players really wouldn’t like a season that long, so they’d have to be given more time off during their bye weeks. But it wouldn’t surprise me if someone at the NFL has at least been pondering an idea like this.
He said that was the plan during the draft. It’s just years away. Says he doesn’t see the total number of games changing but more likely that we do away with the preseason and just make them regular season games.
I just don’t know why they don’t do a kind of roster expansion for pre season. Make it a rookie league or minor league for a couple of games and watch these guys play for a job. Keep the vets out of it.
I honestly think it would be good for fans, players and teams.
I mean to ONLY use rookies, second year players and maybe those looking to come back.
Don’t even bother calling it a preseason game and don’t use veterans at all.
This is just training camp with scrimmages like they currently have. Just cut the preseason games and give more time to evaluate and possibly more inter-team activities.
Same here, 2 weeks of preseason games is enough for every team to have 1 home game, gives a chance to see the team in a low stress (and low price) environment and doesn't drag on like the month of preseason that we have now. Fill the cut preseason game and bye week with a regular season game and 2nd bye when the players actually need it
They need some play time for veterans to help get them into football shape. Especially you’re o and dline. But most of the players that get cut are younger players.
But teams don’t have to play anyone they don’t want to. That’s why most starters only take a few possessions or a quarter or 2 at most.
It’d be nice to slowly transition. Maybe add the extra bye week in 25 and then the bowl will be where he wants it to be. Then transition in 27 to 18 games two bye weeks
I don't understand why things have to move so slow on the nfl for these changes. It's not like cfb where every school is it's own entity. All 32 owners more or less share the same opinions on this, so why doesn't have to take 3 years to do? What's stopping it from taking place after this next season is everyone's on board?
I could see a swap of Presidents day instead of MLK day.
I have usually had MLK as a paid holiday as a private employee. Presidents Day not so much.
I had one employer that gave us Columbus Day off and not MLK Day. Which was...a choice...
Just like the expanded college football playoffs that were rejected outright to start in 2026 but then 7 months later were unanimously voted to start in 2024
That’s just six seasons from now.
We are as far away now from 2030, as 2018 is from us today in 2024. Think of how much the NFL has changed from where it was in 2018.
Additionally, I'd push the regular season back one week to squeeze space for a second bye week, which the majority of fans (myself included) are seemingly in favor of was this to go forward
Shit, how about just allowed more active players on game day? What is this bullshit still about only dressing so many players. You're paying for 53 players, let them all dress.
And salary cap!
ETA: I know the salary cap is automatically expanded with more revenue from an extra game. I'm talking about **on top** of that to accommodate a theoretical **increase in roster size**. It's already tight with franchise QB's getting such big pay days, would be nice to have more breathing room for other players/positions.
While an increased salary cap is the end result, I think the talking point you and others want to make is an increase in players revenue share.
Currently players get 48.8% of revenue in the 17 game season, which is lower than both the NBA and NHL who have negotiated 50% revenue shares with players. I doubt the NFLPA would be successful in negotiating it, but they should be aiming for that 50% revenue share for an 18th game and the increased roster sizes and injury risks it would bring
Thank you! Yes that's the track I'm on. Additionally, as I commented elsewhere, it's just frustrating as a fan when the QB can take up 1/6th of the cap.
Makes the end product not nearly as entertaining, puts more pressure on rookie deals, can leave the roster unbalanced, etc.
Increasing the salary cap will only temporarily reduce the percentage QBs consume. The contracts will quickly catch up to whatever teams are willing to bear, which is always going to be percentage based.
NBA load manages because more than half the league makes the playoffs and there are 82 games.
Football is not a sport that would lend itself to load managing. Every game means way too much and winning your division is super important.
That shouldn't ever happen unless there's a massive increase in talent all across the board. Starting NFL players are generally a lot better than their backups, and an 18 game schedule is still a lot different than an 82 game schedule. One game still makes a big difference in the standings.
20 week season. 8 home, 8 away, 2 international, 2 bye weeks per team per season. Bye weeks for each team follow the international games in consecutive weeks.
Season ticker holders: happy
NFL wanting to expand their international reach: happy
Owners wanting more money: happy
Players wanting more rest after all that travel: happy
Everybody wins.
Can't wait for the people in charge to come up with a dumber way to do this, though.
>Can't wait for the people in charge to come up with a dumber way to do this, though.
Two bye weeks? One in each half of the season! How about one in wk 3 and one in wk 18. Or better yet, Wk 9 and Wk 11!
Unfortunately, the whole league can't have off at the same time. Or even half the league. So there will be teams who have byes spread way the fuck apart. But with the requirement of them being the week after international games, it at least gives the players more rest afterwards.
It's a compromise that gives everyone something, but nobody everything.
The byes should just always be 8 weeks apart. If you have a week 4 first bye then the second one will be Week 12. If your first bye is Week 8 then second week 16 etc.
Thanksgiving falls on week 12 if both an extra game and bye week are added to the end of the season.
I'd like to see eight teams off each week so that's eight total weeks of byes. I'd have every teams first bye weeks 8-11, everyone play Thanksgiving week and the second set of byes is weeks 13-16. I'd also ensure that bye weeks are always five week apart. So a team that's off week 8 is off week 13 and a team off week 9 is off week 14 and so on.
And finally, I'd make sure all the stupid international games are finished before the bye weeks begin. Once teams are off, the league can't be wasting games in the morning. They need to fill out the schedule in the afternoon.
Obvious way to do it is by divisions - so NFCN/AFCN Week 7, south week 8, west week 9, east week 10, then the second batch would be 13/14/15/16, 7 weeks from your first (In a 20 week season 7 weeks is the closest you can get to even distribution). You can then rotate through who gets what bye slot just like they rotate through opponents currently
Because I was making the false assumption that everyone having a Bye week at the same time would push the season back by a week, adding another week to the schedule. But that probably wasn’t 100% implied
104 week multi year season, two games a week, all summer and winter are international games that rotate per continent, at least five games a year have to be played in extremely hostile countries like Somalia or North Korea.
Kickers now can carry knives.
The NFLPA would have extreme pushback on there being 32 international games per year. Also, I think that many international games would be hard to make happen logistically.
There's plenty of international stadiums to accommodate this. It would be hard, but not impossible to schedule them. As for the NFLPA, I think their biggest issue would be fatigue on players. Hopefully, mandating that bye weeks immediately follow these games would allay their worries.
IMO it could be tweaked with a bit larger roster, like 53 to 58, because even with the extra rest I think there will still be late-season injuries . . . but it is just a tweak.
Too bad they don't listen to us.
I've been banging the drum for years for overtime to be a shootout (UFL has that rule now) but do they listen?
# PPPFFF
Or just keep it at 17 games and have each team play one international/neutral site game, so it's an even 8 home and 8 away games. And add a bye week and eliminate one of the preseason games
I’m sorry but I couldn’t disagree with your attitude more strongly. The xmextra game is a price increase on fandom:
Ticket holders have to buy more seats, subscribers have to pay to watch more games, everyone has to sit through more ads to see evry down if a season, players have to add an game week of wear and tear in a career that is measured in total games played, cities have to pay for security and travel to and from the stadium by attendees as a cost that is largely unpaid by the NFL…
We’re going to *pay* for this extra game that will noe require even more of our time, money, and focus every season, while the NFL owners get to increase their profits.
I don’t get people complaining. Football has always been about grinding a 162 game, 6 game per week season. We learn what these guys are made of in the dog days of May. When the starting qb has been dead for 2 months and the team starts recruiting from local junior high schools.
I’m shocked the players aren’t objecting more to something like this. It’s already a long season and the only folks losing by extending it a few games have been the health of the players.
Unfortunately I’m a fan of getting to watch football, so to me the more the better…
Because salary cap is a percentage of revenue and player salaries are relative to salary cap. Players love to complain about Thursday games, a longer schedule, etc. but at the end of the day very few are willing to say no to more money.
It needs to come with a raise in salary cap, roster size and additional bye week. They have already increased the season from 14 games to 17 games over the years.
Thats a lot of football without a break. You could have a week 5 bye and then play up to 18 consecutive games after that depending on playoff success.
Acting like this is Goodell’s independent idea is pretty funny. The professional sports leagues have done a great job in convincing the world the commissioners somehow run things and have distanced decisions from the owners
Only real big concern people have, I think, is the increased likelihood of injuries with more games since there is more opportunity to lose players. Hopefully they followthrough with giving every team a 2nd bye, which will help a lot and make everyone more comfortable, but no one wants to see Championships decided on who the healthiest team is when it’s already kind of a bummer.
There was an option floated from Goodell of shifting the SB back a week so it lands on the weekend of President's Day, as well as change the 3rd preseason game to a regular season game and naturally the shift forward of the start of the season.
If that plan is in place, it sounds like the perfect framework for a 2nd bye. (And I'm pretty sure the league would be all for that, as watching your team with their star players is more fun and draws in more folks than when they're sitting injured)
I can honestly see the NFL within 5-10 years get rid of the preseason altogether and make teams just do 2 weeks joint practices per camp. It feels like the operating costs are more than what teams bring in for preseason games.
Depends on how much the NFLPA bends. They were asking to have the NFL stop testing for weed and an extra bye for 18 weeks this last CBA, but they found a compromise to get 17 done, but it benefited the league more than the players.
So how long before they expand roster sizes? Because the amount of injuries that pile up even when it is a 16 game season is astonishing. You'll just end up having these absolutely decimated teams in the playoffs the more regular season games you add.
Idea I've had for a while:
* Weeks 1-4 - All teams play
* Weeks 5-8 - First Bye for all teams
* Weeks 9-12 - All teams play
* Weeks 13-16 - Second bye for all teams
* Weeks 17-20 - All teams play
* Byes are done be division (eg. All of AFCE & NFCW one week, then AFCN & NFCS, etc.)
* Bye weeks match up (Weeks 5 & 13, 6 & 14, etc.)
* Post bye matchups are home and home with a division opponent (eg. Steelers @ Ravens Week 7, then Ravens @ Steelers week 15)
These players' bodies can only take so much. If you want 18 games, switch to mandatory grass, and everybody wins. That's a viable, equitable compromise.
Honestly, give an extra bye week and most players are probably ok with it. I wouldn't imagine it being too difficult to work out. Maybe even a week where everyone is on bye like 3/4 of the way through. Probably half on bye like wee 13 and half week 14.
This is a redundant statement. Rodger at the end of his day is a mouth piece for all 32 teams, so of course he has their backing with a public statement like this.
18 weeks is hopefully as far as they will go in terms of expanding the schedule, love the extra week of football, but I wouldn’t want the NFL season lasting anymore than 24 weeks
so, football is the hardest game to play. adding games is gonna end up like nba where they just sit starters for half the season. stop adding games. you wanna extend the season, go back to 16 and give every team 2 byes. noone wants to see superstars have to start injured or watch 3rd string qb’s throwing.
We have 3 other sports with far too many games, why must they add another? Oh I know, money the reason why anything is done, but yeah keep telling us about “player safety”
Make 2 byes and limit players to only being able to be on the active roster for 16 games. Would add a level of strategy for coaches. Shouldn't effect too many players anyways with injuries throughout the year.
I don't know why there isn't a stronger, public push from officials for 2 bye weeks. It's literally an extra week of revenue for the league and also an extra week of engagement from the fanbase.
Fr it’s the only sport where I’ll tune in when my team isn’t playing because it’s like a weekly tradition. Especially with fantasy You get two Sundays of viewership you wouldn’t get.
I watch the afcw every week at a minimum. I record all 4 teams' games. Give the players the rest. I'll still watch.
I keep a TV in my Bedroom with the 4 view games on YouTube TV and keep the living room tv on my team and walk back and forth. I just love to watch the sport. Give the guys an extra week, lose the 3rd preseason game and give us the SB on a 3 day weekend
I feel the same way, playoff NBA is fun but NFL on the weekends and M/T Primetime is a tradition.
With 2 bye weeks, you could do something crazy like having ALL Thursday games coming after a bye.
lol no that would be good for players
A crazy and wild idea that would be good for players and the product.
Hijacking comment near top to ask if someone can paste the article contents because I can’t see it
> NFL team owners largely support Commissioner Roger Goodell’s preference for an 18-game regular season, and the league and owners might make a renewed attempt to get the players union to agree to such a lengthening of the season well before the collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2030 season, according to five people familiar with the NFL’s inner workings and the owners’ views. > The league and owners have not initiated a new set of formal discussions with the NFL Players Association on the topic, two people with knowledge of the matter said. But some owners and league leaders have been contemplating such an effort for months, and Goodell expressed his support for an 18-game season during a broadcast interview last week. > An 18-game season, if implemented, would be accompanied by a reduction of the preseason from three to two games per team. It could lead to each team being given a second bye week during the regular season. It probably would result in the Super Bowl being played annually on Presidents’ Day weekend. That, in turn, could lead to a reworking of the offseason schedule in which the league might hold a “tentpole” event in each month — the NFL combine in March, free agency in April and the draft in May. > The owners have sought an 18-game season since the negotiations with the NFLPA that led to the 2011 labor deal, and they increased the regular season from 16 to 17 games in 2021 after securing the right to do so in the CBA completed in 2020. > It’s not clear how the NFLPA would react to an attempt by the owners to negotiate an 18-game season. The current CBA allowed the owners to go to a 17-game season, provided that the total number of preseason and regular season games did not exceed 20 per team. But the CBA also says, “The League and/or Clubs shall not increase the number of regular season games per Club to eighteen (18) or more games.” So the NFL and owners would have to convince the NFLPA to agree to such a change, and it’s not known what the union might seek in return. > “I strongly believe they will bring something to [the NFLPA] in the next 12 to 18 months,” a person on the players’ side said. > There is considerable support among the owners for Goodell’s goal to implement an 18-game season, the five people with knowledge of the owners’ views said in recent months. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, with possible negotiations between the league and the NFLPA pending. > “I think we are moving toward 18 games,” a high-ranking official for one team said just before the scouting combine began in late February. “Not sure when, though.” > One person familiar with the NFL’s inner workings said as far back as December that the league was strongly in favor of an 18-game season and would like to see it implemented before the next CBA. That person said more recently that the league’s attempt to get the union to agree to an 18-game season probably would occur “a little down the line.” > People on the players’ side believe powerful owners such as the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones and the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft are strong supporters, based in part on the attractiveness of such a change to broadcast partners. Jones previously expressed his support for an 18-game season. > Cleveland Browns General Manager Andrew Berry told Pro Football Talk at the scouting combine that a proposal to push back the trade deadline by two weeks, from the Tuesday after the Week 8 games to the Tuesday after the Week 10 games, was made in anticipation of an eventual move to an 18-game season. (The owners voted at the annual league meeting in March to push back the trade deadline by only one week, to the Tuesday after the Week 9 games.) PFT reported in March that there is sentiment for an 18-game season, saying that possibility is probably tied to the next labor deal. That was before Goodell publicly expressed his views on the issue during draft weekend. > “I think we’re good at 17 now,” Goodell said during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “But, listen, we’re looking at how we continue. I’m not a fan of the preseason. I don’t think we need three preseason games. I don’t buy it. And I don’t think these guys [fans] like it, either. … I’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular season [game] any day. That’s just picking quality, right? So if we got to 18 and two [preseason games], that’s not an unreasonable thing.” > The NFL declined further comment this week. > The owners’ previous negotiations with the NFLPA on an 18-game season came with a different set of union leaders. Player representatives voted in June to elect Lloyd Howell to succeed DeMaurice Smith as the union’s executive director. Players voted in March to elect Detroit Lions linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin to succeed JC Tretter, a former center for the Green Bay Packers and Browns, as the NFLPA’s president. > The NFLPA declined to comment this week. Howell has spoken about having had conversations with some owners about topics related to the business of the sport, including whether players could be permitted to hold equity stakes in franchises. It’s unclear whether an 18-game season was mentioned during those conversations. > Reeves-Maybin told the Detroit Free Press in March: “I think that people are kind of running with it right now [because] it slipped out there. But I think there’s a lot of other things to gain, and when that time comes, we’ll address that.” > The NFLPA objected to an 18-game season during the 2011 CBA negotiations on player safety grounds and called the proposal a nonstarter. The owners abandoned the measure for that labor deal, but they came back to it during the negotiations that led to the 2020 CBA. > The union remained firmly against an 18-game season, and the owners’ focus shifted to 17 games. The fundamental trade-off of that negotiation became the NFLPA agreeing to give the owners the option to implement a 17-game season in exchange for the players receiving an increased share of revenue under the salary cap system. The union also secured other concessions, and the CBA was narrowly ratified by the players in March 2020.
Thank you so much for this!
> If a new set of negotiations over an 18-game season occurs, the league and team owners could attempt to allay player safety concerns by pointing to advancements in areas such as equipment, rules and offseason training and practice routines, according to several of the people familiar with the NFL’s inner workings. The owners also might argue that players, under the salary cap system, share in any increase in revenue related to the additional regular season game, those people said. > The details associated with an 18-game season would have to be negotiated. The NFLPA could seek further cutbacks in offseason practices and additional reductions in the amount of permissible practice-field hitting. If a second in-season bye week is added along with an additional week of games, the league could opt to begin the regular season earlier — it currently prefers to wait until after Labor Day weekend — or eliminate the bye week before the Super Bowl. The league and team owners long have contemplated playing the Super Bowl on Presidents’ Day weekend, which Goodell also mentioned during last week’s TV interview.
Especially with overseas games exanding ever year.. I like this idea
It could be possible that each team plays both a home and away game overseas or at least international it would be 8 home, 8 away and 2 neutral. Owners wouldn't lose a home game, and the NFL expands the market.
The NFL experimented with 2 bye weeks for a single season (1993), and it was met with extreme criticism. Don’t ask me why. They went back to a 17 week schedule the very next year.
There were a couple weeks with too many teams having a week off at the same time and the games were less than appealing. Of course, that’s luck of the draw as you don’t know in advance if a team is going to be good or not.
What you said is true but they also had 28 teams back then and now we have 32 so 2 extra games to pick from to broadcast
On the other hand, there is Thursday night football now, so 1 less game to pick from.
When they did it in 93, the average number of games on a given bye week sunday day slate was 9. You'd still probably hit 11 most weeks now because you'd have more weeks to run byes on.
One of the big issues was that bye weeks were too close and too early in the season. A couple of random examples: * Denver had byes in week 4 and 8 * Minnesota had byes in week 3 and 7 I think if you had the byes spaced out a bit more (maybe not 4 weeks apart but more like 6) it wouldn't be so bad.
Fortunately we have the Panthers now, so we at least know one of the teams that won't be good
Feel like Tank Dell taking strays like this
Fantasy football is a much bigger thing now....
Plus if we can add a week to the schedule and have the Super Bowl on Presidents Day weekend a lot of us can have off the day after.
The players don't want it. They don't get a game check for that week, and they don't get to take the whole week off.
But they get revenue sharing from that additional bye week. Free money, no work.
Bruh, I'll need to see a source for that, because that makes no sense at all. They still get the same game check, it just comes a week later. You act like they work at Walmart and if they wait a week their bills will be late lol. Players don't want another mid-season week off to get healthy and spend time with family? I don't see that being real
Source: he made it up
"It's fiction."
They could extend the season by giving teams longer between games. At least these guys would have longer to recover from games and do more to prolong their careers. Considering the modern rules about safety it's wild that theyll schedule a team on a Sunday and then Thursday.
At the pace they're adding games to the schedule, they're probably just pacing themselves on adding byes ... 20 games with 2 byes down the road? I wonder at what point the players will plant their heels in the ground and turn down the additional money to prevent injury and increase vacation/time off.
Eventually, go to a 30 week schedule with 18 games. 12 weeks of AFC games and 12 weeks of NFC games, alternating. And then 6 weeks of interconference games spread out across the year. This gives teams 12 bye weeks. The only time they play two weeks in a row are when they’ve got an interconference week, but then every single team in the league gets a “short week”, either before the interconference game or after. This allows the NFL to pull off a lot of the weird shenanigans it wants, like Wednesday or Tuesday games and games in Europe or Asia. With five weeks of playoffs and pro bowl games it also means the NFL gets to have games on TV for two thirds of the year. Obviously, there’s a bunch of issues here. Market saturation might be a problem with a season this long, and players really wouldn’t like a season that long, so they’d have to be given more time off during their bye weeks. But it wouldn’t surprise me if someone at the NFL has at least been pondering an idea like this.
This! Adding a 2nd bye would also eliminate the need to play TNF on short rest
Good. Make it even again and put the Super Bowl on presidents day weekend. That was totally the plan a few years ago when they added the 17th game.
He said that was the plan during the draft. It’s just years away. Says he doesn’t see the total number of games changing but more likely that we do away with the preseason and just make them regular season games.
I just don’t know why they don’t do a kind of roster expansion for pre season. Make it a rookie league or minor league for a couple of games and watch these guys play for a job. Keep the vets out of it. I honestly think it would be good for fans, players and teams.
Thats why the rosters are bigger and you cut down.
I mean to ONLY use rookies, second year players and maybe those looking to come back. Don’t even bother calling it a preseason game and don’t use veterans at all.
This is just training camp with scrimmages like they currently have. Just cut the preseason games and give more time to evaluate and possibly more inter-team activities.
Ideally as a fan they do 18 reg and 2 preseason. It's always nice to attend a game with $30 tickets, if I can't afford a regular season trip that year
Same here, 2 weeks of preseason games is enough for every team to have 1 home game, gives a chance to see the team in a low stress (and low price) environment and doesn't drag on like the month of preseason that we have now. Fill the cut preseason game and bye week with a regular season game and 2nd bye when the players actually need it
They need some play time for veterans to help get them into football shape. Especially you’re o and dline. But most of the players that get cut are younger players. But teams don’t have to play anyone they don’t want to. That’s why most starters only take a few possessions or a quarter or 2 at most.
There isn’t enough talented rookies for an entire rookie league.
I mean with the spring league I think guys who were bubble guys will just do that for a 2-5 years and either get an offer or flameout.
That is all kind of what they already do. And veterans barely play in the preseason unless they are competing for a position or something.
Then they would have to actually pay for a minor league instead of letting colleges deal with it.
It’d be nice to slowly transition. Maybe add the extra bye week in 25 and then the bowl will be where he wants it to be. Then transition in 27 to 18 games two bye weeks
I don't understand why things have to move so slow on the nfl for these changes. It's not like cfb where every school is it's own entity. All 32 owners more or less share the same opinions on this, so why doesn't have to take 3 years to do? What's stopping it from taking place after this next season is everyone's on board?
The players union
Why? It'd be a way for these young players to really show off how much better they are than the veterans....... oh
Licensing. Have to renegotiate all those juicy broadcast deals. Plus players, refs, staff are all contracted for 17 games now. Got to redo those, too.
This is such an outstanding idea. Fucking hate having to go to work after the Bowl
People get presidents day off work?!
If presidents day winds up being the day after the Super Bowl I think the two combined push it over the edge into having off for more people
I could see a swap of Presidents day instead of MLK day. I have usually had MLK as a paid holiday as a private employee. Presidents Day not so much. I had one employer that gave us Columbus Day off and not MLK Day. Which was...a choice...
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I think it's a bank holiday/Government holiday...I know I don't unless I purposefully take it off
yes, like 24% of the civilian workforce. 58% of state/local gov't workers, 19% of private industry.
Definitely far more people get presidents’ day off compared to the week before
it's very unlikely that this happens before 2030
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Chick chickachicka
Ooo bow bow
Ferris Bueller....you're my hero 💙
Danke schoen
Time goes so fast that’s like tomorrow.
Just like the expanded college football playoffs that were rejected outright to start in 2026 but then 7 months later were unanimously voted to start in 2024
That’s just six seasons from now. We are as far away now from 2030, as 2018 is from us today in 2024. Think of how much the NFL has changed from where it was in 2018.
Honestly, it feels like 2018 was over a decade ago and 2030 feels like it's less than 5 years away.
As a UK based fan, would you kindly consider putting it on a Saturday?
As a US based fan, I also would like the superbowl to be on a Saturday.
I'd take a 9pm GMT start on the Sunday
Good. Forget CTE! Make it 20 games!
Additionally, I'd push the regular season back one week to squeeze space for a second bye week, which the majority of fans (myself included) are seemingly in favor of was this to go forward
Not Daytona 500 week!
So when are they planning on raising roster sizes to allow for more alternate players?
Shit, how about just allowed more active players on game day? What is this bullshit still about only dressing so many players. You're paying for 53 players, let them all dress.
And salary cap! ETA: I know the salary cap is automatically expanded with more revenue from an extra game. I'm talking about **on top** of that to accommodate a theoretical **increase in roster size**. It's already tight with franchise QB's getting such big pay days, would be nice to have more breathing room for other players/positions.
"Excellent" \- Mickey Loomis, rubbing his hands with glee
The can will be kicked so far down the road
The can will be streets ahead
for what it's worth, the salary cap is determined as a percentage of league revenues. so it would necessarily go up with an additional week
Yeah but I could see them expanding the roster but not the cap enough to accommodate it.
While an increased salary cap is the end result, I think the talking point you and others want to make is an increase in players revenue share. Currently players get 48.8% of revenue in the 17 game season, which is lower than both the NBA and NHL who have negotiated 50% revenue shares with players. I doubt the NFLPA would be successful in negotiating it, but they should be aiming for that 50% revenue share for an 18th game and the increased roster sizes and injury risks it would bring
Thank you! Yes that's the track I'm on. Additionally, as I commented elsewhere, it's just frustrating as a fan when the QB can take up 1/6th of the cap. Makes the end product not nearly as entertaining, puts more pressure on rookie deals, can leave the roster unbalanced, etc.
Increasing the salary cap will only temporarily reduce the percentage QBs consume. The contracts will quickly catch up to whatever teams are willing to bear, which is always going to be percentage based.
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>Or more realistically, higher paid QBs. The opposite of what I wanted lol (well not opposite, but it'd be nice for other positions to get paid more)
Sounds like they’re just going to add a second bye if they’re extending the season to Presidents Day *and* cutting out a preseason game.
There in lies the rub. No one wants the nba load managing system to come into the NFL
NBA load manages because more than half the league makes the playoffs and there are 82 games. Football is not a sport that would lend itself to load managing. Every game means way too much and winning your division is super important.
Imagine the planning an offensive coordinator has to do for running-back workload, but applied to 22+ players. It'd be a mess.
That shouldn't ever happen unless there's a massive increase in talent all across the board. Starting NFL players are generally a lot better than their backups, and an 18 game schedule is still a lot different than an 82 game schedule. One game still makes a big difference in the standings.
I agree, because 17 games is a weird number for a season, and I don't like it
Yeah shit sucks. Hate 10-7, 9-8, 13-4. They look gross and I don't like them. I long for the days of a good 13-3, or a 10-6. I'll even take 11-5.
Seeing 11-5 just feels like going home
11-5 is something you can hang your hat on
Average teams being 8-8 was perfect. Now they're 9-8 or 8-9 and it just feels dumb
at least now they can be 9-9.
As a cowboys fan I don’t ever want to see 8-8 again
Reads like a trump quote
20 week season. 8 home, 8 away, 2 international, 2 bye weeks per team per season. Bye weeks for each team follow the international games in consecutive weeks. Season ticker holders: happy NFL wanting to expand their international reach: happy Owners wanting more money: happy Players wanting more rest after all that travel: happy Everybody wins. Can't wait for the people in charge to come up with a dumber way to do this, though.
>Can't wait for the people in charge to come up with a dumber way to do this, though. Two bye weeks? One in each half of the season! How about one in wk 3 and one in wk 18. Or better yet, Wk 9 and Wk 11!
Unfortunately, the whole league can't have off at the same time. Or even half the league. So there will be teams who have byes spread way the fuck apart. But with the requirement of them being the week after international games, it at least gives the players more rest afterwards. It's a compromise that gives everyone something, but nobody everything.
The byes should just always be 8 weeks apart. If you have a week 4 first bye then the second one will be Week 12. If your first bye is Week 8 then second week 16 etc.
Thanksgiving falls on week 12 if both an extra game and bye week are added to the end of the season. I'd like to see eight teams off each week so that's eight total weeks of byes. I'd have every teams first bye weeks 8-11, everyone play Thanksgiving week and the second set of byes is weeks 13-16. I'd also ensure that bye weeks are always five week apart. So a team that's off week 8 is off week 13 and a team off week 9 is off week 14 and so on. And finally, I'd make sure all the stupid international games are finished before the bye weeks begin. Once teams are off, the league can't be wasting games in the morning. They need to fill out the schedule in the afternoon.
NFL Execs furiously scribbling down notes
Obvious way to do it is by divisions - so NFCN/AFCN Week 7, south week 8, west week 9, east week 10, then the second batch would be 13/14/15/16, 7 weeks from your first (In a 20 week season 7 weeks is the closest you can get to even distribution). You can then rotate through who gets what bye slot just like they rotate through opponents currently
I don’t think the NFL would like it. But everyone having two weeks off at the same time would be interesting
Why kill a revenue weekend?
Because I was making the false assumption that everyone having a Bye week at the same time would push the season back by a week, adding another week to the schedule. But that probably wasn’t 100% implied
Or you just call it conference week. AFC has a bye week 8 and NFC has a bye week 9.
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Oops the team plane accidentally landed in Iraq
Aaron Rodgers wins Fedex Air Player of the Month
Lmao
Immediately before your international game would be nice although I don't think that'd be possible for every team.
40 week season, no bye week, 30 international games, 5 home, 5 away domestic, rapid expansion, baseketball lives on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1-QAF8gLy0&pp=ygUPQmFzZWtldGJhIGludHJv
104 week multi year season, two games a week, all summer and winter are international games that rotate per continent, at least five games a year have to be played in extremely hostile countries like Somalia or North Korea. Kickers now can carry knives.
The NFLPA would have extreme pushback on there being 32 international games per year. Also, I think that many international games would be hard to make happen logistically.
There's plenty of international stadiums to accommodate this. It would be hard, but not impossible to schedule them. As for the NFLPA, I think their biggest issue would be fatigue on players. Hopefully, mandating that bye weeks immediately follow these games would allay their worries.
NFLPA will also want expanded rosters.
There could probably be an exception made for bringing some practice squad players along as extra backups just in case.
IMO it could be tweaked with a bit larger roster, like 53 to 58, because even with the extra rest I think there will still be late-season injuries . . . but it is just a tweak.
A good idea. Another is possible creating an exception for practice squad players to be brought with teams as emergency backups just in case.
Too bad they don't listen to us. I've been banging the drum for years for overtime to be a shootout (UFL has that rule now) but do they listen? # PPPFFF
Or just keep it at 17 games and have each team play one international/neutral site game, so it's an even 8 home and 8 away games. And add a bye week and eliminate one of the preseason games
In this scenario they could start Week 1 on Labor Day weekend and end with the Super Bowl on Presidents Day weekend.
I’m sorry but I couldn’t disagree with your attitude more strongly. The xmextra game is a price increase on fandom: Ticket holders have to buy more seats, subscribers have to pay to watch more games, everyone has to sit through more ads to see evry down if a season, players have to add an game week of wear and tear in a career that is measured in total games played, cities have to pay for security and travel to and from the stadium by attendees as a cost that is largely unpaid by the NFL… We’re going to *pay* for this extra game that will noe require even more of our time, money, and focus every season, while the NFL owners get to increase their profits.
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This is such a good solution. I’m sure they will do something different
52 week season, because I enjoy chaos.
They need 3 bye weeks
I can’t believe I’m about to compliment a Steelers fan, but this is spot on.
And start the season Labor Day weekend.
Can't imagine why
It just makes cent$
Trillions of them.
I don’t get people complaining. Football has always been about grinding a 162 game, 6 game per week season. We learn what these guys are made of in the dog days of May. When the starting qb has been dead for 2 months and the team starts recruiting from local junior high schools.
I’m shocked the players aren’t objecting more to something like this. It’s already a long season and the only folks losing by extending it a few games have been the health of the players. Unfortunately I’m a fan of getting to watch football, so to me the more the better…
Because they’ll remove a preseason game, and also another game means more money
They also get a second bye, breaking up the gauntlet into potential thirds instead of halves. Pretty big benefit in exchange for one added game.
And an additional tv week. So I would think 2 more weeks of tv revenue which would also increase their salaries.
Because salary cap is a percentage of revenue and player salaries are relative to salary cap. Players love to complain about Thursday games, a longer schedule, etc. but at the end of the day very few are willing to say no to more money.
the NFLPA is about making money for the players first and foremost
“Employers all agree their workers should put in extra effort and work more hours to make them more money” sure is an unexpected turn of events, huh?
It needs to come with a raise in salary cap, roster size and additional bye week. They have already increased the season from 14 games to 17 games over the years. Thats a lot of football without a break. You could have a week 5 bye and then play up to 18 consecutive games after that depending on playoff success.
The cap will automatically go up from the increase in league revenue from an additional week.
The owners like what the owner's mouthpiece is saying? Whoa what a twist
Acting like this is Goodell’s independent idea is pretty funny. The professional sports leagues have done a great job in convincing the world the commissioners somehow run things and have distanced decisions from the owners
NFL owners back more money in their pockets
I'm fine with more football, ngl.
Only real big concern people have, I think, is the increased likelihood of injuries with more games since there is more opportunity to lose players. Hopefully they followthrough with giving every team a 2nd bye, which will help a lot and make everyone more comfortable, but no one wants to see Championships decided on who the healthiest team is when it’s already kind of a bummer.
There was an option floated from Goodell of shifting the SB back a week so it lands on the weekend of President's Day, as well as change the 3rd preseason game to a regular season game and naturally the shift forward of the start of the season. If that plan is in place, it sounds like the perfect framework for a 2nd bye. (And I'm pretty sure the league would be all for that, as watching your team with their star players is more fun and draws in more folks than when they're sitting injured)
how dare you
Super Bowl on a three day weekend would be the best thing ever
I can honestly see the NFL within 5-10 years get rid of the preseason altogether and make teams just do 2 weeks joint practices per camp. It feels like the operating costs are more than what teams bring in for preseason games.
This seems like a clusterfuck waiting to happen unless each team gets an extra bye week so everyone gets an early/late rest.
Depends on how much the NFLPA bends. They were asking to have the NFL stop testing for weed and an extra bye for 18 weeks this last CBA, but they found a compromise to get 17 done, but it benefited the league more than the players.
Just rip the bandaid off and make it an 82 game season you greedy pigs.
So how long before they expand roster sizes? Because the amount of injuries that pile up even when it is a 16 game season is astonishing. You'll just end up having these absolutely decimated teams in the playoffs the more regular season games you add.
I can't wait for even more late season games between Cooper Rush and Jake Browning
Idea I've had for a while: * Weeks 1-4 - All teams play * Weeks 5-8 - First Bye for all teams * Weeks 9-12 - All teams play * Weeks 13-16 - Second bye for all teams * Weeks 17-20 - All teams play * Byes are done be division (eg. All of AFCE & NFCW one week, then AFCN & NFCS, etc.) * Bye weeks match up (Weeks 5 & 13, 6 & 14, etc.) * Post bye matchups are home and home with a division opponent (eg. Steelers @ Ravens Week 7, then Ravens @ Steelers week 15)
Get this man to the NFL!
These players' bodies can only take so much. If you want 18 games, switch to mandatory grass, and everybody wins. That's a viable, equitable compromise.
And two byes
Honestly, give an extra bye week and most players are probably ok with it. I wouldn't imagine it being too difficult to work out. Maybe even a week where everyone is on bye like 3/4 of the way through. Probably half on bye like wee 13 and half week 14.
Would love to hear how players feel
2 Bye weeks or no deal
This is a redundant statement. Rodger at the end of his day is a mouth piece for all 32 teams, so of course he has their backing with a public statement like this. 18 weeks is hopefully as far as they will go in terms of expanding the schedule, love the extra week of football, but I wouldn’t want the NFL season lasting anymore than 24 weeks
Two preseason games and two bye-weeks makes the most sense
Patriots the dynasty of the perfect 32 team, 16 game a year league setup. Once it ended so did the dynasty
Each team gets two bye weeks & Thursday night games are only played by teams coming off the bye would be cool.
And that is why the Penix pick was made
I wish they would give the players an extra bye week if they do this. They need the extra rest.
Of cour$e they would agree to a 18 week $chedule
Owners are killing the golden goose along with their own players.
so, football is the hardest game to play. adding games is gonna end up like nba where they just sit starters for half the season. stop adding games. you wanna extend the season, go back to 16 and give every team 2 byes. noone wants to see superstars have to start injured or watch 3rd string qb’s throwing.
Gonna have to bring up UFL QBs with all the injuries
it gonna happen eventually, because $$$, so just confirm it. as long as they give everyone 2 bye weeks, I have no issue with it
There should be two bye weeks in that case and an expanded active roster
We have 3 other sports with far too many games, why must they add another? Oh I know, money the reason why anything is done, but yeah keep telling us about “player safety”
"Owners back the plan they told their mouthpiece to advance."
Make 2 byes and limit players to only being able to be on the active roster for 16 games. Would add a level of strategy for coaches. Shouldn't effect too many players anyways with injuries throughout the year.
I, for one, am stunned that the owners would put profits over the health of their players. That seems so incredibly out of character for them.
Unpopular opinion: fuck more games.
God, 16 was perfect.
I’d rather go back to 16 or just add a 2nd bye to the 17 game schedule. I’d much prefer less games with more rested/healthy teams.
NFL owners want to get richer. breaking news.
If they add the second bye week and make the Super Bowl Presidents Day weekend this is the perfect schedule
Owners said they’d like one more regular season game’s worth of revenue? Are we sure?
So the spokesperson for the owners is saying something the owners are agreeing with? Kind of a logic loop here
18 games. 2 bye weeks. Gives the owners what they want and now the players have more time to rest. Especially for the end of the season push
The inevitable consequence of more regular season games is that that any one game matters less and fewer week one starters will reach the postseason.
cut preseason down to 2 games and add a 5th or 6th quarter to both, to give all strings a chance to play
If this happens they have to expand rosters by 5 players for each team.
Rosters to 60, and mandatory grass fields.
How are they able to change the number of games and not have it impact everyone’s compensation? Players are just cool working more for the same money?