It has been proven over and over that the owners and corporate executives don't care about the product on the field. Unfair travel schedules to play on sub par soccer fields in foreign countries, replacement refs whenever they dare to want a sliver of the financial NFL pie. Non guaranteed contracts that give the owners all the leverage while the player risks his health and career every game. The extra games guarantees a lower level of play from players literally surviving car crashes weekly as they try to drag themselves onto the field. As the year stretches into the second half of team schedules and it becomes apparent to everyone that certain teams are already out of contention, how many 'business' decisions are going to be made by the high priced talent that already made their money? How much personal sacrifice will multi-millionaire players make just for the 'love of the game'? We're already past the point of no return with this greedy system and it will continue to churn forward until some future time when the whole thing implodes. I say bring it on, I seem to enjoy screaming at my streaming service monitor at the lack of effort and faulty game plans on any given Sunday. Fifty shades on NFL grey. Now just let me know which service I need to buy to watch my team play on a Wednesday in Stuttgart Germany.

The owners' obsession to get to 18 games is understandable; they have another opportunity to spread their fixed costs over another game, and use half that revenue to increase earnings at whatever their margin rate is.

Where it's going to hit fans is play quality. The preseason development and conditioning will be diminished. September will become the new preseason, practice-hardening won't happen, injuries will diminish rosters, and the overall NFL product quality declines.

In exchange for the 18th game, the NFLPA is going to ask for a couple points of revenue and other concessions from ownership.

The end result will be lower value to fans at higher prices, but like the addicts we are, we'll brainlessly sign up for another fix.

Is there a breaking point? Is the NFL about to reach it?

I love football. I watch the NFL, NCAA and will be watching the UFL. I even watch as much as the preseason as I can. As much as I like the extra week of regular season football I did not like going to 17 weeks. Sixteen weeks just worked better. I like them going to 18 weeks because it fits better than 17 weeks. Now there are a couple things the NFL can do if they go to 18 weeks to protect the players. They can decrease or eliminate international games, they can add another bye week and extend the season, they can increase the play clock decreasing the number of plays, and they can increase the game day roster and the full roster to allow teams more players. Coaches can rotate players more so they play less plays. There are other things the NFL can do but it would have less impact and yes I know decreasing or eliminating international games will never happen.

Oh great! We get another crappy game that will be carried on some streaming service that costs way too much. Thanks a heap, Rogey!

The NFL is making a mistake that the NBA made years ago: more is not necessarily better. The NBA players and coaches do whatever they can to survive a ridiculously long season. That often means healthy scratches for top players and a kind of boring sameness until the playoffs arrive.
18 games is simply disrespectful to the players and fans. The NFL assumes the fan base will continue to pay whatever they ask for as long as the NFL demands, an assumption that could very easily backfire. The NFL preaches player safety then asks the players to risk severe injury one more game. They take games away from fans and ship them overseas. They won't pay the refs to keep the game professional. They routinely have games on Thursday night, endangering players health and recovery again. I could go on and on.

This, my friends, is an organization that needs a large fan push back to wake it up from it's greed.

One has to wonder when the product arrives at the point of diminishing marginal utility. I agree with pretty much every other post on this thread. This greed for an 18th game is going to have some effects on watering down the product. For sure, the NFL will make some more money from another regular season game and for sure, the owners and the NFLPA will want their cut as well.

With absence of another pre-season game it will likely mean a stinky start to the regular season as teams prepare in season. The lack of preparation may lead to more injury. The owners might rightly request for an expanded roster, at least an expanded practice squad to have more available bodies. So there goes some of that money.

Will 18 games have players and owners asking for another bye week? It makes sense when you think of the toll it takes on the health and well-being of the players.

It's all a conspiracy so that by adding another game the Bears can finally have a 4000 yard quarterback.

On the serious side all these changes are making historical records insignificant. At the least new records should come with an asterisk because of the number of games played. (ie sack record)

As Mark Cuban said about the NFL, "Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered." The problem is that Goodell promised that the NFL would have revenue of $25 billion a year (he is already close to that goal, and the eighteen games would probably push them over the top). But this is also a classic case of hubris- of pride going before a fall. Will older fans put up with this? Yes. But younger fans could well move to another sport, in particular soccer, which is slowly becoming more popular.
Also, something unaddressed, and that is the player's salaries. Right now, contracts are based on a seventeen game season. Will the players just give up one game game check to make the owners richer? (Cue uproarious laughter). Add in the increasing amount of games that are behind pay walls, as younger people "cut the cable" and struggle to make ends meet in a terrible job market in a weakening economy, and the writing is on the wall.
Will the NFL heed the warnings or just move to gouge fans for more and more money? To ask the question is to answer it.

I've heard Wednesday Night Football will be streamed on Netflix, and Tuesday Afternoon Football will be an Amazon exclusive. Keep an eye on the next broadcast rights package, kids. Corporate greed grabbing all it can as we circle the drain.

Forced rest games is a slippery slope. Moreover. Outside of kickers, punters and long snappers, what is a ST player? Often they become more than that over a season out of necessity.

Do we really want last games of the season decided by rosters being denuded by regulation not health? Sure, they often do not matter, but sometimes the fates raise questions. Suppose your QB is game barred and your back up gets hurt with things on the line? What we will see is tactical game dumping against weak non-divisional teams or if key players are out for us, keeping others out I suspect. That makes bad games likely worse.

Just a bad idea. If we are going to do this, it needs proper in season rest and is only compounded with ever increasing games on other continents in season.

Good! It's what it should've been. 17 was a waste of time.

The NFL already is largely decided by health and the 18th game will just push it more in that direction and delude the playoffs. It is gonna happen and eventually there will be 20 games. The only way to stop it from happening would be to stop watching and if you reading my worthless comment about the NFL you aren't going to stop watching it.

After decades of playing a grueling 16 game schedule, they added the travesty of a 17 game, throwing everything out of kilter. Except for the money, some for the players; most for the owners. Now, only a few years later, they want 18 games. What's next? --- year around football? Here's my take: Any player who is hurt during the 17th or 18th game of the season should get a lifetime annuity ..... paid for out of the owners' pockets!
The Szotman

If the NFL is going to 18 games then they need to also expand the rosters to 60-64 players, not including the practice squads. More games means more injuries and it can decimate teams, look no farther than GB last year.
It's not like they can't afford the extra players.

Been a fan for many years but even I’m
Losing interest

I remember the 14 game schedule era. That was fine until the NFL/AFL merger and until the league expanded in the 70s. Since then I feel that the 16 game schedule was perfect for a 32 team league. Going to 17 and soon probably 18 games is just an unnecessary money grab by the league.

If the league is going to move to 18 games the NFLPA needs to stand up and demand a second bye week, plus expanded rosters, practice squads and a higher number of dressed players per game. I'm thinking rosters expanded to 60 players with, 52 dressed players per game and 20 players on the PS. Also only 2 pre season games. The decision to rest players should be left up to the teams. I would rest my best players during the early season games since the longer season provides time to make up for a few early season losses. Playoff bound teams will also want to rest their star players during the last week or two of the season. This is why teams should retain the freedom for when they rest their players.

Regardless of what is ultimately decided the level of play will be diluted further than it has already been. Too many games are unwatchable now. The 18 game schedule may finally be the move that results in the NFL becoming over saturated for the market. What the league really needs is a commissioner who will say NO to the owners and take a stand for the players and the fans. Unlikely I know but I'm not the only fan who is getting closer to the breaking point with each passing season. Thanks, Since '61

The thing that makes this really gross is people being more concerned with how having an 18 game season but only allowing a player to play in 17 games is going to impact sports betting / fantasy football more than they're concerned with player health / product on the field.

Also really gross, of course, the league feeling the need to squeeze even more money from what is already an insanely fat cash cow. The greed is out of control- it's not like any of the owners are struggling.