The NFL appears to be on a path toward extending the regular season to 18 games, but that was not a topic of discussion at this week’s owners’ meeting.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at the conclusion of the meeting that there was no discussion of shifting the schedule from 17 regular-season games and three preseason games to 18 regular-season games and two preseason games.
The NFL added a game to the schedule to make the regular season 17 games in 2021, and the 2025 season will be the NFL’s fifth 17-game regular season. The league lengthened the regular season from 14 to 16 games in 1978.
Suffice to say, no one thinks it will take four decades to grow the schedule from 17 to 18 games like it did to go from 16 to 17. But this week, it wasn’t the issue the league’s owners focused on.