https://sports.yahoo.com/report-nfl-owners-hope-18-160816542.html
When the Commissioner conducts his annual Super Bowl-week press conference later today, he’ll undoubtedly be asked about the inevitable expansion of the season to 18 games. The biggest question is when.
Over the weekend, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reported that the owners hope to add another game within the next 2-3 years.
As recently explained, the date of the Super Bowl is set through the 2026 season. The earliest year for stretching the schedule on the back end would be 2027.
Two weeks ago, a ruling in the collusion case regarding guaranteed contracts for certain veteran quarterbacks created an opening for the NFL to redouble efforts to get an agreement from the NFL Players Association to add another game. We’re told the league has a “laser focus” to get an agreement by the end of the year.
The league has helped set the atmosphere for an agreement by not doing a victory lap regarding its victory in the collusion case — and by treating the 61-page decision like a state secret.
There’s a common misconception about the expansion of the schedule to 18 games. Most assume this will guarantee that the Super Bowl will land on President’s Day weekend, every year. In two years, however, the fairly new 17-game schedule will result in a President’s Day weekend Super Bowl. It also will happen in 2038, 2044, 2049, and 2055.
Which means that, if there’s an 18-game season in 2038, the Super Bowl will overshoot President’s Day weekend. The league will need to ask itself whether it wants to start the season on Labor Day weekend (the NFL last did that in 2001) or end it on President’s Day weekend.
Of course, it might not matter in 2038. By then, there could be 19 games. Maybe 20.
https://sports.yahoo.com/report-nfl-owners-hope-18-160816542.html
