DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) -- Cowboys owner Jerry Jones believes the NFL will add a 17th game to the regular season beginning in 2021, despite owners delaying the decision Wednesday.
"We play 20 games a year before we get to the playoffs (four preseason, 16 regular season)," Jones said. "We've agreed with the players and the Players Association that we would increase the 16 to 17 games. ... I could see lessening by a game every other year and increasing the regular season by a game."
To clarify Jones' statement, he indicated the thought now among owners is to cut the preseason from four to three games. Under the prospective plan, all teams that are scheduled one home game and two road games in 2021 would get two home games and one road game the following year.
It's expected that the same plan would be put into place for the regular season, as each team that's scheduled eight home games and nine road games in 2021 would get nine home games and eight road games in 2022.
Jones was asked if he believes the plan will ultimately get the approval from the league's owners.
"I do," he said. "My personal opinion is that it will. Now, we didn't agree to it the other day at our meeting. But we've agreed to look at it and do it. We got it in our (new) collective bargaining agreement (to do it)."
And why didn't the owners come to an agreement on the expanded schedule already?
"(We) didn't need to," Jones said. "We've got several meetings ahead in the offseason, and it just wasn't something we had to address. We wanted (everyone) to think about it more and to think about if they're are any nuances we could add to it. You'd be surprised when you invite the prospective from 32 teams."