The NFL is increasing the regular season to 17 games and planning to have full stadiums for those games.
While reducing the preseason to three games the league will be able to generate additional revenue, of course. America’s most popular sport also will provide more content for the broadcast partners who soon will be spending a total of about $10 billion a year on rights fees.
Team owners at a virtual meeting on Tuesday approved the 17th game as expected, marking the first time in 43 years the regular season has been increased. It went from 14 to 16 games in 1978.
The Super Bowl now will move back a week to Feb. 13, which places it directly in the middle of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Coincidentally, NBC has the broadcast rights to both.
Each extra NFL game will be an interconference matchup based on where teams finished in the previous season. AFC teams will be hosting the 17th game in 2021.
Beyond next season, the league plans for some of the extra games to be played at international sites, with regular hosts London and Mexico City possibly joined by other venues.
“This is a monumental moment in NFL history,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “The CBA with the players and the recently completed media agreements provide the foundation for us to enhance the quality of the NFL experience for our fans. And one of the benefits of each team playing 17 regular-season games is the ability for us to continue to grow our game around the world.”
Some players have voiced their unhappiness with the expanded regular season, but Goodell and other league executives point out that data accumulated over the past decade or so show more injuries occur in a preseason game than any other. Also as part of the labor agreement, the players now will receive 48.5% of shareable revenues with a 17th game, up from 47% last season.
This year, the AFC East will host the NFC East in Week 17, with Washington at Buffalo, the New York Giants at Miami, Dallas at New England and Philadelphia at the New York Jets.
The NFC West teams will visit AFC North clubs, with Seattle at Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Rams at Baltimore, Arizona at Cleveland and San Francisco at Cincinnati.
NFC South members go to the AFC South, so New Orleans will be at Tennessee, Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay at Indianapolis, Carolina at Houston and Atlanta at Jacksonville.
For NFC North clubs, Green Bay goes to Kansas City for a juicy matchup of Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes, while Chicago is at Las Vegas, Minnesota at the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit at Denver.
The full schedule will be released in May, but the Buccaneers will kick off the season on Thursday, Sept. 9. The regular season will end Jan. 9.
As for fans in the stands – 119 games, including the postseason, had some in-person attendance during the coronavirus-impacted 2020 season, with approximately 1.2 millions fans in total – Goodell sounded optimistic.
“We’re discussing plans to welcome back all fans across the country at all stadiums,” he said. “All of us want to see every one of our fans back. Football is not the same without fans, and we expect to have full stadiums in the upcoming season.”
The Super Bowl will be played in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium.
Last season, the league added two playoff teams to increase the number of postseason games. Now, it is adding 16 more matches, or “inventory,” as league executives often refer to it.
Also:
• The 32 franchises were told that organized team activities (OTAs) will begin April 19, with COVID-19 protocols in place. The early launch of OTAs afforded to teams with new head coaches has been waived this year.
Specifics on other offseason programs, including minicamps and the opening of training camps, are being discussed by the league and union.
• Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s medical director who oversaw the COVID-19 response and protocols that helped the league play every game last season, updated the teams.
Goodell said Sills and his staff are dealing “primarily in the area of education and trying to make sure not to just educate players but all our personnel on the importance of vaccinations – the fact it does help protect you from getting COVID and spreading COVID.”
“We will be encouraging all personnel to get vaccinated and working with the players association on all these issues. … We are also using our platforms publicly to talk about the importance of getting vaccinations.”
The NFL doesn’t plan to mandate vaccinations for players, coaches or staff members.
STEELERS: Kalen Ballage signed with his fourth team in four years, agreeing to a one-year contract with Pittsburgh.
Ballage, at 6-foot-2, 231 pounds, spent last season with the Jets and Chargers after playing two years with the Miami Dolphins. Ballage combined to make two starts and appeared in 11 games last season when he rushed for 303 yards and scored two touchdowns. He also caught 29 passes for 166 yards.
A fourth-round draft pick in 2018 out of Arizona State, Ballage started six games for the Dolphins in 2019 and played in 24 games over his first two NFL seasons in Miami.
BILLS: The home of the Buffalo Bills has a new name: Highmark Stadium.
The naming rights were acquired by a recently rebranded local health insurer: Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York. HealthNow New York, which operates its health plans as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western and Northeastern New York, this month completed an affiliation agreement with Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc., and added the Highmark brand to its identity.
Highmark fills the naming-rights void created last year when New Era Cap Co. was released from its agreement by the Bills.
• The Buffalo Bills added experienced starting depth to their offensive line by signing Bobby Hart to a one-year contract.
Hart is a sixth-year player who spent the previous three seasons starting at right tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was part of a Bengals’ offensive line that helped running back Joe Mixon top 1,100 yards rushing in both the 2018 and ’19 seasons.
Hart spent his first three seasons with the New York Giants after being selected in the seventh round of the 2015 draft out of Florida State.
PACKERS: Veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis is staying with the Green Bay Packers.
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst announced the team has re-signed Lewis and defensive end Tyler Lancaster.
The 36-year-old Lewis has spent the last three seasons in Green Bay after playing 12 seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who selected him out of UCLA in the first round of the 2006 draft.
49ERS: San Francisco signed wide receiver Mohamed Sanu for a second stint with the team.
The Niners said they reached a one-year deal with Sanu, who played three games for San Francisco last season with one catch for 9 yards.
Sanu was originally drafted by Cincinnati in the third round of the 2012 draft. He spent four seasons with Cincinnati and then three-plus seasons with Atlanta before being traded to New England during the 2019 season.
He played with San Francisco and Detroit in 2020.
RAIDERS: Las Vegas agreed to a contract extension with left tackle Kolton Miller that will keep him locked up through the 2025 season.
The deal tacks on three additional seasons beyond Miller’s fifth-year option in 2022 and is worth $68.7 million.
TITANS: Tennessee agreed to terms with safety Matthias Farley on a one-year contract.
The five-year veteran has started 18 of his 66 NFL games, and he has 158 tackles, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and 28 special teams tackles. He led the Jets with eight special teams tackles and started two games at safety.
The 5-foot-11, 204-pound Fairley went undrafted out of Notre Dame, signing with Arizona in 2016. He was with Indianapolis from 2016 to 2018 and spent the past two seasons with the Jets.
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