It's no secret that the NFL's ultimate goal is to extend the regular season to 18 games per team. The league's move from a 16-game schedule to 17 games in 2021 was likely just a stepping stone toward this inevitable shift, designed to maximize revenue opportunities for the league and its teams.
However, the idea of an 18-game schedule faces significant opposition, particularly due to concerns over player safety, workload management, and the strain it would place on rosters.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell described an 18-game schedule as the next "logical step" in the evolution of the league. He argued that the transition from 16 to 17 games did not lead to a noticeable increase in injuries, suggesting that the NFL could implement an 18-game schedule without substantially raising risks to player health.
Any such change would require approval from the NFL Players Association under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. When the league expanded to 17 regular-season games, it offset the change by reducing the preseason from four to three games, preserving the total 20-game framework that includes exhibition matchups. However, preseason games do not impose the same physical strain on players, as most starters play limited snaps, if at all.
"I think if we continue to focus on the safety, I think 18 is a potential," Goodell said during the interview with David Rubenstein. "And as you know, we would take a preseason game away, so we would keep within that 20-game framework. We actually started 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."
Last year, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle shared his thoughts on the possibility of an 18-game NFL schedule. Concerned about player recovery throughout the season, he suggested implementing two bye weeks might be necessary to make such a change feasible.
"And as long as they're giving guys' bodies actual time off, because, like I said, playing 16 games in a row is hard," Kittle said. "Playing 17 is really hard. And then you throw the playoffs on top of it, and now you're going to add an 18th game? That's a lot of football."
Goodell also highlighted the league's growing focus on expanding its international presence with regular-season games outside the United States. The NFL plans to host eight international games in 2025, the most ever in a single season.
"Our hope would be, at some stage, to get to 16 games in the next few years," Goodell said. "We think we can do that. If I think it's an indication of the popularity of our game. Every time we take our game to a new market—Brazil's a great example of it—the fans go crazy for it. They sold out the tickets in less than 90 minutes. People had a wonderful time. It was the talk of the town."
The San Francisco 49ers could potentially play one of these international games during the 2025 season. The NFL has already announced that the Indianapolis Colts will host a game in Berlin, marking the league's first-ever regular-season game in the German capital.
The 49ers are scheduled to play the Colts on the road, making them a potential candidate for this historic matchup. Indianapolis' opponent will be confirmed closer to the schedule release in May.