The National Football League expanded from 14 regular-season games to 16 in 1978, and from 16 games to 17 in 2021. As you may have heard, another expansion of the regular season is not far ahead.

During a recent meeting with the Washington Post, NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell revealed that talks with the league have begun regarding an NFL 18-game regular season. These are not the formal negotiations that will come, but talks are indeed happening.

“We have talked at a very, very, very high level superficially, with a recognition … about, ‘Yeah, this is something that we should be talking about. And we should really kick the tires and understand what else goes into that decision-making process,'” Howell said. “Where does the 18th game come from? I think the foregone conclusion is well, you just grab it, like, in what would otherwise be [preseason games] in August. You play it forward. But these are details that really need to be fleshed out. But, again, there are other economic, health and safety matters that also need to be clear to our members before there’s ever an agreement about an 18th game.”

As for when the 18-game season could be finalized and go into effect, it’s too early to tell.

But Howell reportedly left the door open on an agreement being reached before the current collective bargaining agreement expires following the 2030 season.

“I think you all know in the last CBA negotiation, 17 [games] wasn’t a pro forma decision,” Howell said. “Many of our members felt very strongly about the … support or the not-support of that. And actually, whether the CBA ultimately got approved or not kind of hung on that. So the other reason I was excited Roger [Goodell] put it out there is we can start that discussion now. We don’t have to wait until the week before a vote or even a year before a vote. We can really understand: What are the issues? What’s the science behind it? What are the economics behind it?”

While his point about addressing the issue early is valid, it’s still interesting that Howell said he’s “excited” for these negotiations considering the fact that the players he represents are all but excited about adding yet another game to the season. However, expansion does seem inevitable; and with expansion should come an extra bye week, and maybe more for players.

“Our membership is interested in a myriad of things before we even get to the number of games: health and safety, field surface, OTA makeup, compensation, what percent of their annual compensation is guaranteed,” Howell said. “So there are many things before we get to [the] 18th game. … It’s a negotiable point.”