NFL rumors: Players want no part of 18-game season, but league will keep pushing

Ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, the NFL is making some news for other reasons. The league is reportedly going to keep pushing for an expansion of the regular season to 18 games, per NFL Network.

“The league is going to push hard for 18 games, because that is linked to their desire to play 16 games internationally every season,” NFL.com’s Judy Battista reported ahead of the Super Bowl.

The Insiders on @NFLGameDay with @TomPelissero, @MikeGarafolo, and @JudyBattista: Is an 18-game season coming? Best-case scenario for Kyler Murray is a release; #49ers expected to get trade calls for Mac Jones; Don’t rule out a Kirk Cousins return to ATL. pic.twitter.com/1ApXvg6Pa3

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 8, 2026

NFL fans shouldn’t expect this to happen soon, though.

“We are at least several seasons away from an 18 game schedule,” Battista added.

Part of the reason why the league is going to have to drag this out is because of the players union. The NFLPA, or the National Football League Players Association, has said that they don’t want to expand the schedule.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft teased weeks ago that the NFL wants every team to play at least one international game per year. That is why he feels the schedule should expand. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is even teasing that the league could expand with international teams in the future.

Will the NFL season expand again to 18 regular season games?

The NFL is clearly making a case that the league should play more internationally. It was recently announced that the NFL will play a game in Paris, France in 2026. The Dallas Cowboys will play in Rio.

While he has teased about changes to the schedule, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has not expressly stated a desire to move to 18 games.

“We have not had any formal discussions about it and frankly very little of any informal conversations,” Goodell said at his Super Bowl news conference, per the Associated Press. “It is not a given that we will do that. It’s not something we assume will happen. It’s something we want to talk about with the union leadership.”

Time will tell if the NFL expands its regular season schedule in the future. The league went to 17 games in 2021, after teams played 16 regular season games for many years before that.

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