Roger Goodell clarifies his comments on NFL expanding to 18-game schedule — and whether a change is imminent

Just three seasons into the NFL’s 17-game regular season, conversation around further league expansions continues to simmer.

Commissioner Roger Goodell stirred interest during draft week when he floated a hypothetical 18th regular-season game in exchange for reducing NFL teams’ preseason slates from three games to two.

“I think we’re good at 17 now,” Goodell told ESPN. “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’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular-season game any day. That’s just picking quality, right?

“If we got to 18 and 2, that’s not an unreasonable thing.”

Tuesday at league meetings in Nashville, Goodell clarified that his proposal wasn’t on the cusp of ratifying. He was instead considering routes to a later Super Bowl during Sunday night of Presidents Day weekend, as well as shifting game schedules to further emphasize contests that count toward postseason contention.

“I wasn’t floating something that we’re actively thinking about now,” Goodell said. “It is something that we think about in the long-range context.”

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Health and safety concerns dictate the loudest criticism toward an 18-game schedule, particularly if the expansion does not accompany another bye. The league must collectively bargain schedule-length changes with the players union. In other growth areas, such as the league’s growing international slate, financial concerns appear to routinely trump health and safety considerations.

The NFL voted last December to expand the international slate from effectively five games (four plus the Jacksonville Jaguars’ standing match at London’s Wembley Stadium) to nine. The league will play its first game in South America in Week 1, a Friday night game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in São Paulo, Brazil.

The Friday game further reflects the NFL creeping…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-05-22 20:27:02

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