Jerry Jones 'would anticipate' 18-game NFL season, perhaps as soon as 2027

Back in July, the NFL seemed to confirm that league owners and the NFL Players Association would not come to an agreement to make the switch to an 18-game regular-season format in 2027 when it revealed that Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta will take place on Feb. 13, 2028.

Understandably, this led outsiders to assume that the dates for the 2027 campaign were locked in and that an 18-game format wouldn't be put in place before 2028 at the earliest. During a Friday morning appearance on Dallas sports radio station 105.3 The Fan, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones suggested he hasn't yet given up on getting an 18-game calendar for 2027.

Jerry Jones: 18-game season is "in everybody’s best interest"

Per Jon Machota of The Athletic, Jones "said the NFL isn’t far away from an 18-game regular-season schedule by reducing the preseason." The outspoken owner also "said it’s a possibility as soon as next year." 

Jones insisted that going to the 18-game format is "in everybody’s best interest." 

"I would anticipate that coming," Jones added.

Since at least the fall of 2022, Jones hasn't hidden that a goal of the owners is to replace one preseason game with a regular-season contest. Other team owners and league commissioner Roger Goodell have openly campaigned for players to embrace this change as soon as possible, in part because doing so would result in "more gate (money) and more money for the players as well."

Why Jerry Jones may have jumped the gun

NFLPA executive director JC Tretter previously made it known on multiple occasions this year, alone, that the players are in no hurry to add a meaningful game to the calendar. Per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement that runs through the 2030 campaign, the union must agree to any expansion of the regular season. 

The NFLPA could ask for an increased share in revenue, a second bye week to be added to season schedules and for mandatory minicamps to be scrapped to accept an 18-game format before 2030 arrives. For Jones to be proven right, the union and league owners will need to get on the same page regarding multiple topics at some point over the next handful of months.