Roger Goodell wants more football and a day off for everybody after the Super Bowl.
The NFL commissioner joined "The Pat McAfee Show" on Friday and shared his ideal league calendar, which would include a 18 regular season games, two preseason games and the Super Bowl on Presidents Day weekend.
The league last modified its schedule in 2021, moving from 16 regular season and four preseason games to 17 regular season games and three preseason games. As part of the change, the Super Bowl was pushed back from the first weekend of February to the second.
"I think we're good at 17 now," Goodell said. "But, listen, we're looking at how we continue. I'm not a fan of the preseason ...
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"The reality is, I'd rather replace a preseason game with a regular-season game any day. That's just picking quality. If we get to 18 and two, that's not an unreasonable thing."
Goodell said he would welcome the addition of a second bye week if the NFL expanded from 17 to 18 regular season games. That would add an extra week to the overall season calendar and push the Super Bowl to Presidents Day weekend, giving Goodell and the league an opportunity to effectively make the country's biggest sporting event a national holiday.
NFL
"And then you have Monday off," he said.
While Goodell may be enticed by an additional regular season game, the people on the field could feel different. The league would have to collectively bargain such a change with the NFL Players Association and many players voiced their displeasure with the addition of the 17th regular season game after it passed in the last CBA four years ago.
In addition to schedule expansion, Goodell also floated the idea of expanding the NFL's international presence. He said the league could have as many as 16 games played annually overseas within the next 10 years, up from five scheduled for the 2024 season.
