Roger Goodell feels 18-game NFL regular reason in near future is “logical” step
Roger Goodell discussed his plans of 18-game schedule, believing it’s a logical step, ensurin the 20-game framework remains intact.
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Roger Goodell (Via Rolling Stone)
Looks like Roger Goodell has made up his mind regarding the proposed 18-game NFL regular season schedule he presented earlier, and it’s only a matter of time before he implements it. And this time, he did take the concerns of players and fans into account at some point, as he assured the 20-game framework would remain unaffected.
When Goodell initially proposed the idea, he did not receive responses as he hoped he would. Instead, his suggestion faced significant backlash from both fans and players, who argued that it could heighten the risk of injuries and would be unfair to players given that they would only have one bye week.
That’s why, during his interview with Bloomberg TV’s The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations, the NFL Commissioner discussed his plans for implementing the 18-game schedule, believing it’s a “logical” step while ensuring that the existing 20-game framework remains intact.
I think 18 is a potential. And as you know, we would take a preseason game away. So we would keep within that 20-game framework. We actually started with 14 and six preseasons. We went to 16 and four. And now 17 and three. So 18 and two is a logical step, but we would only do that with the players.
Roger Goodell said
Roger Goodell: The "logical step" for the NFL is 18 regular-season games. https://t.co/cLJfPCYTBS
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 17, 2025
As elaborative as Goodell’s plans are, it wouldn’t be easy to get approval from the players and the owners to implement this expansion schedule. Players are set to reaffirm the economic, health, and safety matters before signing another collective bargaining agreement for this new schedule.
Roger Goodell envisions doubling international NFL games as part of league revamp
Interestingly, the NFL commissioner Goodell’s elaborative plans for the league’s future aren’t limited to expanding the regular season, he also detailed his plans to increase international games. Given that the NFL will have eight games on foreign grounds next season, Goodell wants to double the number to 16.
We had five last year, we expect to have eight next year, which will be the highest we’ve ever had. Our hope would be at some stage to get to 16 games in the next few years. We think we can do that. I think it’s an indication of the popularity of our game. Every time we take our game to a new market… the fans go crazy for it.
Roger Goodell added
Contrary to his expectations, fans aren’t too thrilled about this news as well. They argued that NFL is the one of the biggest sports leagues in the United States, centering on American football; increasing more international games would make it tough for the NFL fans of the country to watch their favorite teams on the fields.
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Pratyusha Srivastava
(2095 Articles Published)