Chris Berman: Damar Hamlin’s Cardiac Arrest Slowed NFL’s 18-Game Push

Longtime ESPN commentator Chris Berman says he believes Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest in 2023 slowed an NFL push for an 18-game regular season.

“The push that might have happened while these current deals were in place—once Damar Hamlin happened, not the time to put it forward,” Berman said on Tuesday at Front Office Sports’ Tuned In summit. “That’s my belief. I’m sure I’m not too far off.”

In January 2023, Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Bills-Bengals game, an incident that sparked widespread conversation about player safety across the league.

The NFL declined an FOS request for comment. ESPN declined to comment on the matter. 

Under its current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which was approved in 2020 and runs until 2030, the NFL cannot feasibly extend to an 18-game season. That CBA allowed the NFL to expand from a 16- to a 17-game season, which the league did in 2021, but it does not permit extending the season to 18 games.

However, the issue has been a long-time talking point—the NFL and its owners proposed an 18-game season as far back as the negotiations that led to the 2011 CBA. 

Owners and the league have expressed interest in implementing an 18-game season, and want to discuss it as part of the upcoming negotiations on the next CBA, and had informal talks with the NFLPA on the issue under former executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. Howell resigned in July 2025, and JC Tretter was elected as his replacement this March; formal negotiations on the 18-game season and other CBA issues have remained on hold.

In February, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said expanding to 18 games was “not a given” and that player safety concerns would be a consideration in the next CBA negotiations. David White, the NFLPA’s interim executive director between Howell and Tretter’s tenures, said in February that players “don’t have an appetite” for an 18th game.

Berman believes the 18-game push is now resurfacing because the current CBA and league media rights deal are moving into their final years. (The NFL can opt out of its TV contracts as early as 2030.)

“When the NFL floats stuff, it’s not a done deal by any means, but it’s a bigger magnitude than what I’m going to say,” Berman said. “The NFL is smarter than everybody else. You didn’t hear anything about it for a couple years because you’d have to get the players and everyone [to approve], and then maybe with three years left in this TV deal, ‘Yeah, we’re having 18 games.’”