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An 18-game NFL season is probably inevitable. Here are three ways the league can make it work.
The NFL is inching closer and closer to an expanded schedule, which will likely mean an 18th game is coming in the not-so-distant future.
In an April interview with ESPN’s Pat McAfee, commissioner Roger Goodell said the conversation surrounding an extra game has already begun.
“If we got to 18 (regular season) and 2 (preseason games), that’s not an unreasonable thing,” Goodell said. “The other thing it does, [Super Bowl Sunday] ends on up Presidents’ Day weekend, which is a three-day weekend, which makes it Sunday night and then you have Monday off.”
When the league moved from 16 games to 17 in 2021, it gave the owners some leeway in trying to push for 18. However, the players pushed back and a compromise of 17 was agreed upon. But it’s only a matter of time before 18 is the new norm.
Once again, if the league adds another game, the players will need some type of compromise. There’s already pushback from players saying that a 17-game schedule is grueling enough, so some changes will have to be made if and when the league adds another game.
The NFL can also get creative when expanding to 18 games, so here are three ways the league’s schedule can change by adding an additional contest:
Labor Day Weekend Kickoff
Obviously, a week or two will have to be added in order to expand the schedule, and the easiest way is by starting the season a week earlier.
Let’s take this year’s calendar as an example: Labor Day is Sept. 2 on a Monday. But with a big kickoff weekend, let’s stretch this out as much as possible and get teams on national TV.
We can start with the annual Thursday night kickoff on Aug. 29 between the defending Super Bowl champions hosting an opponent of intrigue. Then, as seen with this year’s Friday night kickoff game, this turns into more of a weekend.
Saturday is for college football, as always. So the NFL takes a rest.
There are 14 remaining games up for grabs for Sunday and Monday, but these games can and should be spread out as much as possible. Let’s have a mere four games on in the early window, two games late, one for CBS and another for FOX, and a Sunday Night Football matchup on NBC in primetime.
And then, let’s repeat that on Monday. After all, it is a holiday, so football should be part of it.
This gives each fan base a chance to not only see their team on in a (mostly) uninterrupted setting, but it gives the national base a chance to see a bunch of games to kick off the season when there already is the added anticipation from preseason and training camp.
Add a second bye for all teams
Before 2002 when the NFL had 31 teams, it was customary for teams to have multiple bye weeks. So that should also be the case if the league adds one more game.
Teams should have a bye in October during Weeks 7-10, and another in December between Weeks 13-17.
In each bye week, two divisions, one from the AFC and one from the NFC, will all be totally off. Then they will each play a division rival the following week. This will eliminate any advantage with each team coming off a bye, and it also allows these teams to be as healthy as possible going into a divisional matchup.
With two bye weeks and 18 games, this means there will be 20 weeks of play during the regular season. The final week of games would take place on the third Sunday of January.
President’s Day Weekend Becomes Super Bowl Weekend
Every year, workers say that Super Bowl Monday should be a holiday, and this schedule change would (sort of) make that a thing — at least for people who don’t have to work on President’s Day.
If the playoffs didn’t start until the end of January, we’re looking at Conference Championships going into February and the Super Bowl would take place two weeks later on the Sunday of President’s Day Weekend.
Perhaps a schedule change like this would move the country one step closer to officially making Super Bowl Monday a national holiday.
