The National Football League has announced that the regular schedule will consist of 17 games and that it is reducing the number of pre-season games to three, in an effort to generate additional revenue for the most popular sport in the United States.
As expected on Tuesday, NFL team owners approved the change, the first to the regular season schedule in 43 years. In 1978, the league had increased the number of games from 14 to 16.
Suddenly, the Super Bowl will be brought forward a week, and will take place on February 13, in the heart of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Incidentally, the NBC network owns the broadcasting rights for both events.
The additional matches will consist of inter-association duels, depending on the position of the teams in the standings the previous season. American Association clubs will host the 17e match in 2021.
Beyond the next season, the league anticipates that some of the additional games will take place outside the United States.
Commissioner Roger Goodell called the moment “monumental” for the NFL.
“The collective agreement with the players and the recent agreements reached with the media provide us with the foundations to improve the quality of the NFL experience for our fans. And one of the benefits for each team of playing 17 regular season games will be to continue to grow our sport around the world, ”said Goodell.
Meanwhile, the NFL is exploring the possibility of playing its games in full stadiums next season, Goodell said.
During the 2020 season, a total of 119 games – including the playoffs – were played in front of spectators. A total of 1.2 million people attended in-person games.
“We are discussing scenarios to welcome fans across the country at all stages,” said Goodell, who sounded optimistic.
“We all want to see each of our fans again. Football without spectators is not the same, and we expect to see full stadiums in the next season. “
This year, under the new calendar format, American Association Eastern Section clubs will host National Association Eastern Section clubs in Week 17.
National Association Western Section teams will visit American Association Northern Section teams, and National Association Southern Section rosters will compete against American Association Southern Section.
As for the teams of the North section of the National Association, they will compete with those of the West section of the American Association. That includes a tasty duel to be expected between quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The full schedule will be released in May, but it’s already known that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kick off the season on Thursday, September 9, against an yet unknown opponent. The regular season ends on January 9.
The Super Bowl game will be presented at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
