• Loading stock data...
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Join us May 14 at 1 p.m. ET for Future of Sports: Leagues of Their Own Register Now

NFL’s Push for 18-Game Season Gains Traction, but Players Have Demands

  • The NFL and NFLPA have reportedly discussed implementing an 18-game season.
  • Some players are asking for a second bye week in exchange for another game.
Sam Greene/Cincinnati Enquirer

The idea of an 18-game NFL regular season is gaining steam, even though the 2024 NFL season will be just the fourth since the league expanded from 16 to 17 games.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association have had “high-level discussions” about the idea of adding an additional game to the league’s regular-season calendar, according to The Washington Post

NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said the two sides have spoken about adding an additional game but have yet to begin formal negotiations. Howell said he will need to discuss the idea with players during their next meetings, but the extra game could take effect before the end of the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2030 season.

Team owners have long wanted an 18-game schedule, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made his strongest public push for the idea yet during various media appearances at draft weekend in Detroit. “I’m not a fan of the preseason,” Goodell said, while touring the benefits of exchanging one of the three exhibition games for a meaningful one.

Howell said that before making a decision, several factors need to be “fleshed out,” including economic, health, and safety considerations.

More Rest, Please

When discussing a theoretical 18-game season, the obvious compromise is to reduce the number of preseason games from three to two. Goodell said in an owners meeting in May that he thinks that’s a “fair trade.”

Goodell hasn’t said the league would automatically add a second bye week—which several star players have suggested as their request if the 18-game schedule were to be implemented.

“It’s going to get to 18 games at some point, right?” 49ers tight end George Kittle said on The Rich Eisen Show. And the five-time Pro-Bowler is ready to negotiate. “I’m totally fine with that, just give us two byes,” he added.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (above) echoes that sentiment. “Gotta have two bye weeks,” he said on Pardon My Take when asked about expanding to 18 games. Burrow also pitched an idea for a league-wide bye week roughly two-thirds of the way through the season that would include an all-star weekend of events in place of the season-ending Pro Bowl. “I think it’d be cool.”

‘Only a Matter of Time’

Would getting to 18 games really be as simple as the owners agreeing to add a second bye week, though? “The fact that Joe Burrow is even talking about the 18 games, to me, it just seems like there’s a momentum to this,” ESPN insider Adam Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I don’t think it’s real right now, but it’s only a matter of time before it does get real.”

In addition to the current CBA expiring after the 2030 season, the NFL has the ability to opt out of its $110 billion media-rights deals at the end of the decade. Combining a new, longer NFL season with fresh broadcast bids could be too much of a potential revenue hike for the league to pass up.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Apr 26, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) dribbles the basketball as Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) defends in the third quarter during game three for the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Kaseya Center.

Jared Kushner’s Brother Bought Small Stake in Miami Heat Last Year

Kushner reportedly sold his Grizzlies stake to buy an interest in the Heat.
Curry

Brady, Curry, Ohtani Get Most Claims Dropped in FTX Endorser Suit

The judge did call the endorsers “uninformed, negligent, or even reckless.”
Mar 26, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Actor and filmmaker Spike Lee (l) greets former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. during the game between the LA Clippers and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

‘Friends of the Garden’: Inside the NBA’s Most Exclusive Celebrity Suite

“Among the titans of industry, deals are done at Suite 200.”

NFL Nears Deal for YouTube Game That Could Break Streaming Records

YouTube closing in on a deal to show a game from Brazil.

Featured Today

Apr 18, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal vs Grand Canyon University Antelopes during the MPSF Men's Volleyball Championship at Galen Center.

‘What Just Happened’: Inside the Abrupt End of Grand Canyon Men’s Volleyball

Inside Grand Canyon’s shocking decision to cut men’s volleyball.
exclusive
May 9, 2025

Shams Charania on Draft, Breaking Dončić Trade, ‘Whirlwind’ ESPN Tenure

Charania will work on his first NBA draft lottery for ESPN on Monday.
Fat Perez reacts after hitting his shot on the 16th tee during the WHOOP Shot at Glory on the 16th hole at TPC in Scottsdale on Feb. 5, 2025.
May 7, 2025

Golf Influencers Are the New Currency for PGA Tour and LIV

YouTube golf is big business. The rival tours are staging formal events.
Feb 8, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson talks with New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11), forward Mikal Bridges (25), and guard Josh Hart (3) during a timeout in the third quarter against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden.
May 6, 2025

Before the Villanova Knicks, There Were the Kentucky Celtics

Three decades ago, Boston tried its own version of the college-teammate experiment.
May 4, 2025; Iowa City, IA, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) looks on with head coach Stephanie White during the third quarter against the Brazil National Team at Carver-Haweye Arena.
May 8, 2025

If Caitlin Clark, Fever Realize Title Dreams, WNBA Will Win Big

Caitlin Clark addressed the media on Thursday.
May 9, 2025

Roku’s $10M MLB Deal Resumes Despite ESPN Drama

Early Sunday games begin with a high-profile Cubs-Mets matchup.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Portfolio Players is our bi-weekly spotlight on the athletes and investors reshaping the business of sports. This week, venture capitalist Kai Cunningham unpacks why athletes land top deals and how the usual investing rules don’t always apply.
Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) lines up for the tush push play on the goal line against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome.
May 8, 2025

Saquon Barkley Defends Tush Push, Tells Opponents to ‘Get Better’

Saquon Barkley makes a passionate defense for the hotly debated play.
May 7, 2025

Ladies European Tour Gets Prize Money Boost From Saudi Arabia

A new PIF Global Series will pay out $13 million.
May 4, 2025; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Red Bull driver Max Verstappen (1) and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri (81) during the F1 Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome.
May 7, 2025

F1 Loses Money, but Books $14.2B in Future Revenue

Executives convey optimism despite earnings issues and unresolved media rights.
Sam Presti
May 6, 2025

Sam Presti Finally Wins NBA Executive of the Year for OKC Juggernaut

Presti has come in second place for the award three times.