Roger Goodell Is Pushing for an 18-Game NFL Season Again. The Players Are Not on Board.
Roger Goodell is back on his 18-game crusade. The NFL commissioner publicly floated the idea of an expanded regular season this week, and the players union responded almost immediately to remind everyone they have not signed off on anything.
Goodell told reporters the league is committed to exploring an 18th regular season game, citing fan demand, additional revenue, and international growth opportunities. The current 17-game format went into effect in 2021 as part of the last CBA.
The NFLPA’s stance has not changed. Players want more guaranteed money, fewer practices, and better health protections before agreeing to another regular season game. Adding a game without major concessions is a non-starter.
Goodell knows this. He is still pushing publicly because the league office understands the leverage game. Make 18 games seem inevitable, and the union eventually accepts a watered-down compromise.
That math worked last time. The current 17-game season was sold to players as a way to access more revenue, even though most veterans publicly opposed the idea. The new CBA negotiations in 2030 are already being shaped by this kind of soft messaging from the commissioner’s office.
Here is the issue. Adding a regular season game without subtracting a preseason game increases injury exposure. The data on player health from 17 games is not encouraging. Soft tissue injuries are up. ACL tears are up. Concussions remain stubbornly common.
The NFLPA has internal data showing players are exposed to roughly six percent more high-velocity collisions per season after the 17-game shift. An 18-game season would push that number even higher.
Star players have been more vocal about the issue. Patrick Mahomes, Justin Jefferson, and Joe Burrow have all gone on record questioning the schedule expansion. Burrow specifically said the league cannot keep asking for more games without giving more rest.
What Goodell can offer that might move the needle is real money and real days off. Cut the preseason to two games. Add a second bye week. Increase the minimum salary floor by 15 percent. Improve healthcare for retired players. Those are the kinds of concessions that get a union to negotiate seriously.
Anything short of that, and the 18-game push runs into the same wall it has hit before. Players have learned. They are not going to take a slightly bigger paycheck in exchange for another year of their careers.
Goodell is positioning the league for the next CBA cycle. The NFLPA is signaling that the next deal will not be easy.
The fans get more games. The owners get more revenue. The players carry the cost. That tradeoff is what is going to define labor talks for the rest of this decade.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
