NFL players union rejects Goodell’s 18-game regular season suggestion

• The NFL players’ union flatly rejected the league’s suggestion that teams could play an 18-game regular season in the near future. The debate began after Roger Goodell’s State of the League press conference.
• The union has concerns about travel, players’ recovery and the number of players on NFL rosters.
• The league also announced Wednesday, Feb. 5, that they will play an international game in Melbourne, Australia, in 2025.

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The NFL players’ union has rejected the league’s suggestion that an 18-game regular season could be playable in the near future. During his State of the League press conference on Monday, Feb. 3, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell raised some eyebrows, saying recent advancements in player safety have made it possible for the league to eventually move to an 18-game schedule.

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, the head of the NFL players’ union, Lloyd Howell, Jr., poured cold water all over Goodell’s suggestion.

“I heard the commissioner remark recently that the league has made enough progress on health and safety to expand the regular season,” Howell said. “Frankly, we’re not sure how he’s reaching that conclusion based on the data we’ve been given access to.”

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Howell believes the NFL “is trying to shape the narrative” and raised concerns over roster size, team travel and player recovery. He also cited the number of teams that played three games in 10 days this past season as part of the current 17-game schedule.

“No one wants to play an 18th game. No one. Seventeen games is already, for many of the guys, too long. Seventeen games is also so lengthy that you’re still dealing with injuries going into the next season,” Howell said. “So, there are a variety of issues that hang off of the length of the season before any formal negotiations.”

Howell also pointed to another issue affecting players’ recovery: the NFL’s continued expansion of overseas games. There was big news in New Orleans on that topic Wednesday, Feb. 5, as well. The league announced they will play a game in Australia for the first time. That game will feature the Los Angeles Rams and take place in Melbourne.

“Australia is a really important market for the NFL globally,” said Peter O’Reilly, head of the NFL’s international events. “It’s a passionate nation with sporting fans, a passionate sporting culture, with nearly 7 million fans of the NFL, and that’s grown by nearly a million fans just within the last 18 months.”

The league signed a multi-year agreement with Melbourne, which has a 16-hour time difference with the U.S. East Coast. In 2024, the league announced first-time games in Madrid and Berlin for the coming season. Per the contract with the players’ union, the limit is 10 international games per season.

The NFL would like to eventually get to 16 international games. But, like the 18-game schedule debate, that depends on negotiations with the union. The current labor contract runs until 2030.