It’s no secret that the NFL is preparing to expand its season from 17 to 18 games. And NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is once again reiterating that desire to the press.
During an interview on Bloomberg’s The David Rubenstein Show, Goodell called adding an 18th game to the NFL season “logical,” though did not provide any timeline as to when a potential expansion could occur. Of course, any additional game would have to be collectively bargained with the players.
“I think if we continue to focus on the safety, I think 18 is a potential. And as you know, we would take a preseason game away. So we would keep within that 20-game framework,” Goodell told Rubenstein. “We actually started with 14 and six preseasons. We went to 16 and four. And now 17 and three. So 18 and two is a logical step, but we would only do that with the players.”
The commissioner also detailed plans to expand its slate of international games. Next season, the NFL will play eight games outside of the United States. Goodell would like to see that number increase to 16 in the future.
“We had five last year, we expect to have eight next year, which will be the highest we’ve ever had,” Goodell said. “Our hope would be at some stage to get to 16 games in the next few years. We think we can do that. I think it’s an indication of the popularity of our game. Every time we take our game to a new market… the fans go crazy for it.”
As for the potential for a franchise to be based permanently overseas, Goodell says it’s been discussed, but the logistics still need to be figured out.
“Listen, we’ve talked an awful lot about it. And I think there are markets that would without question support an NFL franchise,” he said. “I think there are a lot of issues with expansion of our league that we have to debate on that one. You know, additional teams, we have 32 now. We think that’s a really good number for the NFL. But also I think, we would probably look at it potentially as building out by divisions as opposed to individual teams.”
An entire division of international teams would be a massive change for the league, but one that would greatly expand its global footprint. That type of change seems to be a ways off. But adding an 18th game to the schedule, along with playing 16 international games per year, seems to be on the horizon.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.