While he feels that most of his peers are in favor of a 18-game regular season, New York Giants owners John Mara has his reservations.
“I can’t say I’m necessarily crazy about extending the season,” Mara said, via ESPN. “I worry more about player fatigue and wear and tear on the players moving forward. That’s one of the reasons why we have to have the discussion with (the players union).”
Mara’s comments were given at about the same time NFL commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the possibility of an 18-game season.
Goodell said that that expanding the season to 18 games is not currently an active discussion while adding that the league is thinking about it in a “long-range context.” Goodell, as he did in April, reiterated that a longer regular season would result in a reduced preseason.
“We think that’s a good trade,” Goodell said.
Safety and quality, Goodell said, are two big factors in the discussion of expanding the regular season.
“The key to us is looking at making sure we continue to do the things that make our game safer,” Goodell said while referencing some of the recent changes the league has made in an attempt to reduce injuries. “We’re going to continue to do that. … Again, moving to quality and making sure that we’re doing everything possible to give what the fans want. And they want, obviously, more football.”
If Mara is right, and the majority of the league’s owners are in favor of an 18-game season, that will likely be the outcome. It’ll likely be proposed long before the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in 2030. In fact, the Washington Post recently reported that the league could very well present something to the NFLPA within the next 12-18 months.
If the schedule is stretched to 18 games, that would ultimately result in a two-game preseason. The Super Bowl would likely be played on Presidents Day weekend, something that Goodell himself alluded to in April.
An extra bye week might also be on the docket if the league expands its regular season to 18 games. As Mara said on Wednesday, the health and welfare of the league’s players has to be considered before the league makes the regular season even longer than it currently is. Rest assured that an extra bye is something that the players will lobby for when an 18-game season is ultimately brought to the bargaining table.
