Feb 7, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell speaks at the NFLPA Press Conference at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center prior to Super Bowl LVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
NFL: Super Bowl LVIII-NFLPA Press Conference
(New York, NY) – According to NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell, the NFL and NFLPA have had discussions at a “very high level” in regards to an 18th regular season game being added to the schedule.
There have been rumors of such an addition ever since the league went to a 17-game schedule, and commissioner Roger Goodell has publicly addressed his desire to expand the schedule with an extra game and have the Super Bowl take place on Presidents Day weekend.
While on the surface level the issue is as simple as taking away a preseason game and moving Week 1 up earlier, there are a number of “economic, health, and safety matters that also need to be clear to our members before there’s ever an agreement about an 18th game” according to Howell.
The addition of the 18th game is optimistically targeted before the league’s collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2030 season. The CBA is technically a living document that can be amended through negotiations.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has commented on the matter saying he is interested in the idea of an 18th game if it also included a second bye week. Howell said that the direction the NFL is headed in makes this even more complicated.
“How many of the games are now going to be overseas? And what’s overseas? Is it Western Europe? Is it South America, as in this year? Is it Asia? Australia? These are things that are in the air. And then, to what I think Joe Burrow said, what about the number of bye weeks? Is it two? More than two?”
The addition of another game without another bye week is highly improbable. The agreement for 17 games barely passed at 51.5% with the players and there would have to be a considerable compensation to turn the athletes over.
