Report: A 17-Game NFL Regular Season Is on the Way

A new NFL CBA could be agreed upon before this postseason is completed

Report: A 17-Game NFL Regular Season Is On the Way
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell answers questions. (B51/Mark Brown/Getty)
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According to The Washington Post’s Mark Maske, the NFL and the NFL Players Association may reach an agreement on an expansion of the league’s regular season before this year’s postseason is even over.

Labor agreement talks between the league and the NFLPA are gaining “positive momentum” which has “buoyed optimism” the sides will agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, which will probably include a 17-game regular season, according to multiple sources.

“I think there’s some real intensity and opportunity over the next few weeks,” a person familiar with the state of the negotiations told The Post. 

Expanding the season could also mean an expansion of the league’s international series. “A 17-game regular season could mean that each team would play one neutral-site game per season, with some of those games to be held in London, Mexico City and potentially other international venues,” according to The Post. “Or teams simply could alternate seasons with eight or nine home games and continue to surrender home dates for international games.”

Adding an extra game to the league’s regular season would probably mean that one or more of the four NFL preseason games would be eliminated.

Obviously, adding the extra game would require concessions from the owners as it would mean players would be putting their health on the line for an extra week, which is no small thing considering the risk of injury in pro football.

Those concessions would likely come in the form of increased compensation and could include the league agreeing to ease its policy on marijuana usage and lessen the power of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discipline players.

That current 10-year CBA between the league and union runs through the 2020 season.

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