Curtis Meyer reporter
Recently, the NFL has announced plans to make a major change to the regular season schedule, as they look to add an 18th game. While this wasn’t expected to make any serious headway until the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires in 2030, Commissioner Roger Goodell is pushing hard now for the new game to be added.
In 2021, the 17th game was added to the mix, as the NFL preseason shrank from four games down to three. In all likelihood, this 18th game would do the same, dropping the number of preseason games down to just two.
This new plan has not garnered much support from players or coaches for a large variety of reasons. Despite this, the NFL is determined to see its way through, no matter the cost to the players, coaches, and fans.
Adding a regular season game will increase profit for both owners and the NFL as a collective, as they look to make more and more. Scheduling has already been a mess for the league, as they broadcast games on Christmas, traditionally when a time the NBA owns, and overlap with the new expanded college football playoffs.
All of these extra moves only increase the money that the NFL makes, while the fans have to continue to pony up for more and more expensive tickets, merchandise, and event prices. Players now have to adjust to the new schedules, as the physical and mental toll on their bodies continues to grow.
The preseason games offer time to get rookies and new players adjusted to the team, as well as show whether they have the required talent and skill to be on an NFL field. With just two games, this severely limits coaches’ abilities to evaluate their young players talents.
This also translates to a higher injury risk among the players. The NFL is a tough league, and the players will likely refuse to participate if they don’t add a bye week to the schedule.
Major changes would have to happen to revenue sharing, as the players and their union would look to be compensated at a higher rate than previously. If the players are putting their bodies on the line, they will look to be paid handsomely for it.
The players union could also look for more benefits, in the form of health care and retirement. Right now, vested players who have three years of credited seasons are given five additional years of benefits after they retire. With the new deal, the players could look to extend their health care period, perhaps even for life.
While these are just talk, there is little doubt that an 18-game season is on the horizon. The only question is when do the owners and the league feel like they have enough? The NFL is the largest, most financially successful in North America, and has been for years. Just owning an NFL team is more than enough to live off of comfortably, for the rest of your life and the rest of your family for the foreseeable future.
Yet the league demands more. Only one thing talks in NFL circles, and that thing is money. The presence or absence of it is the only thing that moves owners and the league. Success on the field has become an afterthought to these parties, as evidenced by Chiefs owner, Clark Hunt, threatening to skip town if not given enough money by Missouri taxpayers, despite his team having won three Super Bowls in the last five years. Clearly on-field success and an enthusiastic fanbase aren’t as important as the bottom dollar.
The issue, when you get down to it, is as old as the human race. Greed is what drives the NFL, and will continue to drive the NFL as long as fans and players are willing to pay the price.