NFL owners approve 17-game regular season

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. 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 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 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 revenue with a 17th game, up from 47% last season.

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-affected 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 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Last season, the league added two playoff teams to increase the number of postseason games. Now, it is adding 16 more games, or "inventory," as league executives often refer to it.

Also Tuesday:

• 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."

The NFL doesn't plan to mandate vaccinations for players, coaches or staff members.