The NFL Wants to Go 18 Games and Nobody Can Agree If That's Actually Good
The buzz around the NFL's annual league meeting this week has been impossible to ignore: an 18-game regular season might be coming. And honestly, the league is split on whether that's a win or a total mess.
Here's the deal. The NFL is seriously eyeing a future where teams play one extra regular-season game and cut preseason down to just two games. With a new executive director at the NFL Players Association in JC Tretter and the league continuing to expand its international slate of games, there's real momentum building behind this push. But getting everyone on the same page? That's where things get complicated.
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Indianapolis Colts owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon laid out the case pretty clearly at the meeting on Sunday. She gets it: preseason isn't exactly appointment television. "Preseason is, as far as the fan product goes, the commissioner has openly said that it's not the best product that we have," Irsay-Gordon said. "But I think as long as the players want it, which I think they would because it would mean more revenue, I think it's ultimately a better product." Her take? An 18-game slate is reasonable and something the league should work toward.
There's Just One Huge Problem
The NFLPA has already come out publicly against expanding the regular season. But here's the thing: they said the same thing before the league moved to 17 games back in 2021. That didn't stop players from voting to approve the new collective bargaining agreement that included the increase, though it was close. Any move to 18 games would require the union to come back to the negotiating table, and reopening CBA talks before the current agreement expires isn't exactly a given.
So yeah, 18 games might happen eventually. But don't expect it to be smooth sailing. The owners see revenue. The players see their bodies taking more punishment. Until those two sides find common ground, we're probably still years away from seeing an extra game on the Seahawks' schedule at Lumen Field.
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