Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Pushing NFL to Make Major Scheduling Change

There's been talk of the NFL moving to an 18-game schedule for years now, but it seems there's real momentum for that change to happen in the not-so-distant future.

In fact, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports says it's an eventuality that will happen within the next few years.

"There is little question that the next collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players will include an 18th regular season game," Jones wrote. "That change is at least two years away - 2028 at the absolute earliest, 2031 at the latest - and it will come with considerable back and forth between the sides."

Among those pushing for the big scheduling change is New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who admitted during a recent interview with Lachlan Cartwright of Vanity Fair that such a move would allow the NFL to grow its global audience.

"In our new labor agreement, I hope we go to 18 games and two preseason games, and then if we do that, it would allow us to hopefully go to 16 international games, so we would have every team every year play an international game, which would be built mainly through a streaming audience," Kraft said.

Jones also speculated adding an extra game and expanding to more international games would add an additional billion dollars in yearly revenue for the league.

If the NFL does move to 18 games, it would go from three preseason games down to two and a second bye week would be added. It would also guarantee that late-season games still have relevance as the NFL would likely schedule games with playoff implications for later in the year to ensure that every game matters.

The NFL switched from a 16-game schedule to 17 games back in 2021 - a move some players were vehemently against.

Adding another regular-season game to the fold would likely have the same opposition from players given the increased risk of injury and the fact that they won't be given any more of the revenue generated from adding the extra game.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 4:09 PM.