When someone who has been around for as long as Jerry Jones makes a predictive statement regarding the NFL, there's probably some accuracy to it.
Around a week after Jones shared his thoughts on the matter, indicating that owners would like to cut the preseason from four games to three games while extending the regular season by a game, NFL.com's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero added some fuel to that fire.
The move, according to Rapoport and Pelissero, would generate new revenue for the league and "could at least slightly soften an anticipated drop in the salary cap" for 2021, which obviously comes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the long-criticized four-game preseason would be cut down to two or three games, as Jones suggested.
Though the announcement might not come for months due to the current CBA's terms regarding media contracts, a team source told Rapoport and Pelissero that "we're all anticipating it's going to happen."
There are obviously some teams who would love to see a boost to the salary cap, which the 17-game schedule could result in:
The cap is still likely to drop significantly in 2021, per sources, but the 17th game as part of a new media deal could boost it above that $175 million floor. The union's share of all revenue already was set to bump up from 47 percent to 48 percent in 2021, and the move to 17 games with a new media deal triggers a "media kicker" on top of it that further increases players' share.
17 games is also the maximum amount that would be allowed, per the new CBA, and there has been support for this idea coming to fruition "sooner than later" in past meetings. Rapoport and Pelissero noted that the pandemic has "increased the urgency of the situation" for both sides to turn this idea into reality, and it seems as though 2021 is the result of that urgency.
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