Report: NFL could push for 18 regular-season games

In 2021, the NFL expanded its regular season to 17 games. Now, it looks like the league is getting ready to expand again.

According to a recent report by Mike Florio, there is still a push to expand the regular season in the NFL. It’s something that he says that he picked on over the past few days, with the football world coming together in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine.

This comes shortly after the Cleveland Browns proposed pushing back the trade deadline. When Florio asked around about it and whether or not it could mean there’s another game, he says the reaction was, “Yeah. That’s coming.”

One big issue for this change is going to be the NFLPA, which will likely have multiple concerns. The most obvious starts with the health and safety of players when adding another game to the season. After that, the NFLPA is also probably going to want to adjust things like pay and the salary cap to reflect the expanded schedule.

Because of those concerns, and any other concerns that could pop up, the NFL probably won’t be able to make that change until the next labor deal.

Obviously, this is something the NFL is looking out for down the line, but 18 is a rounder number than 17 and could add plenty of money in the league’s pockets. So, it’s not all that surprising that the league wants to expand. What will be interesting is how the NFL chooses to expand. Will games be played earlier or later in the calendar? Will there be an added bye week for recovery? How would this impact the NFL’s international games?

Ultimately, the NFL is an incredibly profitable business. The rise of sports betting has only increased that and more TV inventory is going to equal a lot more money.

NFL executive describes salary cap increase as ‘Taylor Swift surplus’

The NFL is set to raise its salary cap by about $30 million going into 2024, meaning that total cap space is going to be at $255.4 million. According to reporter Josina Anderson, one NFL executive attributed this increase to Taylor Swift and the extra attention, and therefore money, that she brought to the league.

“As we head towards the NFL Combine & free agency, an NFL front office source just shared with me it’ll be interesting for them to watch how teams use their ‘Taylor Swift surplus’ in cap space,” Josina Anderson said. “Will teams actually spend it, just hold it, or pay down debt?”