Roger Goodell: 18-game regular season is 'logical step' for NFL

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced last spring that he wanted the league to eventually shift to an 18-game regular season. He felt that 18 regular-season games and two preseason contests per team were "not unreasonable."

Unsurprisingly, nothing that has happened since then changed Goodell's mind regarding this subject. 

Matthew Townsend of Bloomberg reported that during an interview with Bloomberg Television, which aired on Friday, Roger Goodell stated that adding an 18th game to the NFL's regular season is the "logical" next step for all parties involved.

"We would keep within that 20-game framework," Goodell said about pairing 18 regular-season matchups with two preseason games per club. "We went to 16 and four, and now 17 and three. So 18 and two is a logical step." 

It's hardly been a secret since the NFL moved to the so-called 17-and-three format in 2021 that it would be a matter of when, not if, owners would look to add an 18th regular-season game to the schedule. In June 2024, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated said the league could get the NFL Players Association to agree to an expanded regular season "a lot sooner" than when networks can opt out of broadcast contracts after the 2029 campaign.

The NFLPA must agree to such a proposal per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2031. NFL insider Mike Jones of The Athletic suggested this past July that the two sides weren't all that close to agreeing to an altered schedule. It's believed the players will ask for teams to receive two byes per campaign and for rosters to be expanded before they accept an 18-game format.

Star players routinely skip meaningless preseason games to avoid injuries, and such contests are often held in half or mostly-empty stadiums. Some insiders are convinced the league will look to scrap that portion of the calendar and move to a format of 20 regular-season games and zero exhibition contests before a new CBA is signed.