Despite the NFL’s best efforts, it appears the league won’t be moving towards an 18-game regular season by 2027.
According to a report by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, citing a source familiar with the situation, an expansion to 18 regular-season games is “highly unlikely” for the 2027-28 season, though “still not impossible.” The NFL continues to leave the door open on an extra game by not announcing a date for Super Bowl LXII, which is scheduled to be played February 2028 in Atlanta.
Under the current 17-game calendar, Super Bowl LXII would be scheduled for the second Sunday in February, which would be February 13, 2028. An expansion to 18 games, however, would necessitate a move deeper into February. The following Sunday, February 20, would be Presidents Day weekend, a Super Bowl date long sought after by the NFL due to the federal holiday on Monday.
However, an 18-game schedule could only be amenable for the NFL Players Association if it comes in conjunction with a second bye week. That opens up the possibility that Super Bowl LXII could be moved all the way back to February 27, 2028. Of course, even with a second bye week, the NFL could manipulate its schedule to still land the Presidents Day weekend Super Bowl it covets. The league could simply move the start of the season up one week, or remove the open week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.
Florio writes the NFL’s delay in nailing down a date for Super Bowl LXII “is likely the result of the recent turmoil within the NFL Players Association.” Any expansion to 18 games would require a change in the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the union, which the players would then need to vote on.
While most see an eventual expansion to 18 games as an inevitability, the timeline remains uncertain. At the latest, one would imagine the NFL will have an 18-game season implemented by the 2031-32 season, the first season not covered by the current CBA. However, with the league likely to renegotiate its broadcast deals following the 2029-30 season at the latest, it would like to enter those negotiations with the added inventory an extra game would provide.
The first shoe to drop on timeline will be when Super Bowl LXII is scheduled for. At the moment, it seems like the 17-game season is here to stay for at least this season and the next.
