This has to be the first ever Wednesday night game, right? If I know anything at all about the NFL, this is going to become permanent. Next step is Tuesday night games, and we’ll soon have games every day of the week, because, you know, player safety is their #1 priority!
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my guess is in the not too distant future there will be a game every day during the week, all on different streaming platforms.
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They played on Christmas a couple of years ago when it was on a Wednesday, IIRC.
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I could definitely see the NFL scheduling games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the future. The tricky part is they would really need to add a 2nd bye week for every team so they can have a team play mid week and then get a “mini bye week” afterwards.
That would be difficult to add a 2nd bye week IF the goal of adding an 18th game is accomplished. Seems like it needs to be 1 or the other. I think they would be smarter to add the 2nd bye week and have games on Tuesday & Wednesday in prime time.
Also… it will be interesting if the NFL continues to avoid Friday nights and Saturdays while high school and college football seasons are active. Since the NCAA is likely to expand their playoffs, the NFL may have fewer Saturdays without college football games scheduled. The greed may eventually win out, so it wouldn’t surprise if the NFL started to play on Fridays & Saturdays.
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I’ve been a huge advocate to a second bye week for a long time. If the NFL wants a better product and more teams (I know they want to expand. Especially with all these international games) they need to give these guys more rest. Injuries are way up for a reason. I know it’ll never happen but imagine how much healthier every team would be if they had 3rd bye week? Maybe in the future with a full expansion across the globe?. That would seriously complicate things but these guys need more time to recover from the intensity of what they are asked to do. Mentally and physically. It seems more likely a player will land on injured reserve then make it through a full NFL season plus playoffs.
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16 games was more than enough IMO. Injuries have never been higher. Longer seasons and playing football on 3 days rest is a recipe for crack, sizzle and popping ligaments and bones.
More money is really all the owners care about.
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I believe 3 things will happen when they sign a new CBA… They’ll expand the roster, they’ll add an 18th game, they’ll add a 2nd bye week
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yep. that might be the limit though unless they really expand the roster. I can’t see going much over 18 games with all the wear and tear.
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Killing the golden goose in my opinion. There is too much and it’s 24/7/365 now. What made it special was the limited window of time it was on.
Delayed gratification is a thing, ask that kid from American pie.
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I’m 100% on board with this. The in-season rest and recuperation is so much more valuable than a big chunk of time after the Super Bowl.
18 games, 3 byes, no organized activities allowed during the bye week other than treatment/rehab. If I were in charge of the NFLPA, that would be one of my requirements for moving to the additional game.
Yea its gonna happen after the 2029 season. Thats when the TV deals open up for negotiations and the CBA expires 2 seasons later. So negotiations will happen then too.
But odds are conversations are already happening. And deals getting worked out. And will be implemented starting in the 2030 season.
2 preseason games,
18 regular season games. (6 division, 4 intra Conference, 4 inter conference, 2 standings based intra division 2 standings based intra conference
2 bye weeks
16 team playoff (no more byes)
16 international games. 1 every week from 1-16
Slightly expanded roster and IR Elevations
And likely a $440m+ salary cap by then.
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I don’t expect 1 international game every week.
It works in week 1 because they have it Thursday, allowing for travel back to U.S. to give the teams a full week off.
Weeks 2 & 3 would require a bye week too early.
Weeks 15 & 16 would be too late for bye weeks.
I could see multiple international games on the same weekend (1 Saturday AM, 1 Sunday AM)…. and maybe another team plays back to back international games like the Jags currently do in London, which would allow fewer different teams to travel to Europe.
Maybe true. But with 2 bye weeks the only weeks off limits for byes would be 1-3 and 18-20. And thanksgiving. So you could have a week 4 bye. Then week 13 or so bye.
So maybe not week 2 then. Week 1 and 3-17 but no bye after week 17. But you could have bye before hand.
But absolutely 16 international games. Every team plays over seas.
Like, the one that banged Stifler’s mom?
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No more week 14 bye weeks. Seriously, wtf is that. Destroys fantasy football, which brings in a TON of engagement and eyeballs to games people normally wouldnt give two shakes about.
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They need a shorter IR option than 4 weeks as well, and no limit on returns from IR.
Larger rosters, larger game-day roster, more practice squad spots, guaranteed 5+ days between games. I can see the NFLPA demanding all of that as a trade-off for adding an 18th game, and the NFL will gladly take it, because it doesn’t really add much expense for them if the salary cap grows at a somewhat similar same rate.
What I’d like to see the NFLPA ask for is full-time referees instead of the part-time nonsense we have now, as well as more public accountability.
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Why? The Lions don’t have a bye before or after the game… In fact, 13 out of the 16 teams playing international games don’t have a bye the following week.
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I guess I should have said “should” have a bye week either before or after a game in Europe… Especially if they add a 18th game.
Yes! The one who was saving it all up so he could have the ultimate orgasm. You got the reference!
It’s been years since I’ve seen that movie but that’s one part I always remember.
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Finch… aka “Shit Break” 
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