When the NFL first implemented the 17-game schedule in 2021, there was a bit of an expectation that they were planting seeds for an 18-game season within a few years. Five years later, the 18-game season has not materialized and ESPN’s Chris Berman believes that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin might be a big reason for it.
Back in the 2022 season, Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field and nearly lost his life during a game. In the years since, player safety has become a bigger and bigger priority for the NFL Players Association (NFLPA).
Speaking to Front Office Sports, Berman proposed that Hamlin’s near-death experience forced the NFL to pump the brakes on extending seasons to 18 games. He said that while the NFL has the option to do so, the league would have found it very poorly received by players.
“The push that might have happened while these current deals were in place—once Damar Hamlin happened, not the time to put it forward,” Berman said. “That’s my belief. I’m sure I’m not too far off.”
The 18-Game Season’s Future
Despite the reluctance to push for the move to 18 games in the first few years since Hamlin’s incident, Berman believes that the push may resume as the current Collective Bargaining Agreement approaches its end in the early-2030s. He mused that the NFL might announce the expansion to 18 games with about three years left on the deal. That could mean 2028 or 2029.
“When the NFL floats stuff, it’s not a done deal by any means, but it’s a bigger magnitude than what I’m going to say,” Berman said. “The NFL is smarter than everybody else. You didn’t hear anything about it for a couple years because you’d have to get the players and everyone [to approve], and then maybe with three years left in this TV deal, ‘Yeah, we’re having 18 games.’”
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The NFL certainly does have a tendency to dip its toes in the water of a new idea to see how much heat it gets and then either back out or dive in depending on the response.
2023 through 2026 may have been too early for the league to make its long-sought move to 18 games, but perhaps within a year or two, the league will be ready to get back on track with it.
