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The National Football League has been inching closer and closer to an 18-game season, and if it were up to Robert Kraft, it would happen as soon as possible.
The New England Patriots owner sounded as if he was predicting the change could come sooner rather than later, while also saying that more international games could be on the horizon.
“We’re going to push like the dickens now to make international more important with us. Every team will go to 18 [regular season games] and two [preseason games] and eliminate one of the preseason games. Every team every year will play one game overseas,” Kraft told Boston radio’s “The Sports Hub.”
Kraft said the changes would be “so we can continue to grow the cap and keep our labor happy.”
“Because we’re sort of getting near the top here with the coverage. Ninety-three of the top 100 programs on television are NFL games. Think about that. It’s really amazing,” Kraft said. “And you look at the size of our crowds versus the other sports and it’s really, you know we had that Amazon game on Thursday a couple weeks ago – 31 million people streamed. So as long as we can keep growing revenue, we can keep long-term labor peace.”
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All 32 teams have played at least one game overseas, with the Jacksonville Jaguars leading the way at 14 contests.
The push for an 18-game season came upon the realization that adding a game to the end of the regular season would extend the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend, meaning that the following day would be an off day for the majority of the workforce.
There have been numerous arguments to make the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday, but there’s never been legitimate movement.
Teams played 14-game seasons from 1961 to 1977 and then 16 games until the 2020 season, implementing a 17th game in 2021.
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