NFL Reportedly Expected To Institute 17-Game Season For 2021 Campaign

For better or for worse, NFL seasons soon will be longer.

The league likely will institute a 17-game season beginning with the 2021 campaign, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Sunday, citing sources. Consequently, the preseason would be cut to two or three games while the Super Bowl would be pushed back to the second week of February, a slot normally reserved for NASCAR’s Daytona 500.

“The NFL is planning to expand the regular season to 17 games in 2021 — a historic move that would generate new revenue and could at least slightly soften an anticipated drop in the salary cap next year, sources say,” Rapoport wrote.

An announcement may not come for weeks, if not months, since the NFL must first negotiate at least one new media contract in order to make the move to 17 games in 2021, per the collective bargaining agreement. But as one team source apprised of discussions said: “We’re all anticipating it’s going to happen.”

The NFL has played a 16-game regular season since 1978.

There is no specific deadline for a new media deal or 17-game announcement, according to Rapoport and Pelissero. However, they identified the late-spring schedule release as a “logical target.”