The National Football League has long been in pursuit of an extended regular season.
For years, there have been stories about how the league was pushing for an 18-game season, two more than the current 16-game schedule. That desire to play 18 games hasn't always been well received, and now the league appears to have decreased those demands just a little bit.
According to a report from Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic, the NFL is now trying to change the regular season to a more modest 17 games.
The Athletic’s source was quoted as saying: “Not enough owners support 18 and players would not go for it either.”
The NFL Player’s Association has been staunch in its opposition to an 18-game season. Football is a brutal sport, and two more games would likely increase the amount of injuries suffered by players around the league.
This new 17-game proposal would apparently also include a reduction in preseason games. Each franchise playing four preseason games has seemed more pointless every year. Teams have started to sit key players for each of the exhibition games, so as to avoid a costly injury before the real contests even start. For example, Jets running back Le'Veon Bell didn't play a single snap this preseason.
A change to a 17-game schedule would come with the next collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA is set to expire in 18 months. Negotiations are expected to start up later this year.
With the exception of two strike-shortened campaigns, The NFL regular season has been 16 games long since 1978. Before that, each team played 14 games, but that was a different time for the league. Today's NFL is a money-making juggernaut, and another game or two would only increase how much the league can make off TV contract's and ticket sales.