New York Giants Owner John Mara Addresses Concerns With Potential 18-Game Schedule

Earlier this morning, New York Giants owner John Mara acknowledged that the majority of NFL owners are in favor of expanding the schedule to 18 games. Commissioner Roger Goodell also hinted that the owners thought an additional game offered a “good trade,” with more pros than cons.

However, Mara is not so quick to jump on this idea. He has some hesitations about being fully on board with this idea. Mara expressed some concerns to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN about this possibility:

“I can’t say I’m necessarily crazy about extending the season… I worry more about player fatigue and wear and tear on the players moving forward. That’s one of the reasons why we have to have the discussion with (the players union).”

-John Mara

Roger Goodell Addresses Concerns

During spring conferences, Goodell took the time to address the possibility of an 18-game schedule. He admitted there were issues that would have to be addressed before going further with this idea. With that said, Goodell is committed to keeping the game safer before adding more games to the schedule:

“The key thing for us is looking at making sure we continue to do things that make our game safer. So, we want to make sure that hits the first boundary… You’ve seen a lot of outcomes of that: kickoffs are a good example of that, the hip drop. So, we’re going to continue to do that.”

-Roger Goodell

NFL Moving Forward

Based on the conversation above, it seems inevitable that the NFL will add more games to the schedule. This is especially the case when you realize that there has been about a 25% increase in revenue since the NFL added a 17th game. Plus, the NFL seems to be diving deeper with exclusive streaming service broadcasts and international games.