You can count Jerry Jones among those in support of an 18-game regular season.
NFL owners have been gathering this week in Nashville for their spring meeting and as you can imagine a variety of topics came up both relative to the league as a whole and each owner’s individual teams. With OTAs also going on that is a lot of football-type action. It almost feels like fall! Until you step outside, of course.
As things relate to the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones did not necessarily address anything to do with the team specifically, but he did have a notable comment on Wednesday that impacts all 32 franchises. The league had its schedule released last week and it obviously included all 17 games for each club. If Jerry Jones had his way the list would include 18 games. He is in support of a regular season of that length.
Jerry Jones expressed his support for an eventual move to an 18-game regular season.
— MarkMaske (@MarkMaske) May 22, 2024
New York Giants owner John Mara didn’t necessarily offer some extra support, but noted how he feels this may ultimately happen.
#Giants owner John Mara believes most owners are in favor of eventual 18-game season. “I can’t say I’m necessarily crazy about extending the season,” he said.
“I worry more about player fatigue and wear and tear on the players moving forward. That’s one of the reasons why we…— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 22, 2024
Here is what Commissioner Roger Goodell had to say on the matter.
Full comments from Commissioner Roger Goodell on a potential 18-game season and the context https://t.co/hSypDGbiPg pic.twitter.com/2hC1i6XI9g
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 22, 2024
It has long felt inevitable that the NFL would shift to an 18-game regular season ever since they pushed play out to 17 games in a single campaign back before the 2021 season. 17 is an odd number and therefore does not allow for the same number of home and away games every year for each team (currently the conferences alternate years, Dallas has nine home games this season as an example). This is why 18 always felt like the long-term play.
To be clear that is the logic in terms of the numbers, but moving to 18 games is quite the ask of the players who have to put their bodies through the wear, tear and risk of an NFL season. Many have floated out the idea of a second bye to help in this capacity, and it seems like we may end up in a world where that is possible. The league may wind up with the Super Bowl being played on the Sunday before President’s Day which would establish the pseudo holiday following the game that so many people seem to want accompanying it.
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