NFL owners will meet virtually to discuss 17th regular seaso

[sharonorn]

The NFL has a new collective bargaining agreement that has already changed a lot of aspects of the game, with one major change set to take place soon. Lost in the COVID-19 dominated season is the league making plans to add a 17th game to the regular season schedule past the 2020 campaign, and NFL owners are set to meet on Wednesday to discu s exercising that option for the 2021 season, .As part of the new collective bargaining agreement agreed to in March, NFL owners can increase the regular season schedule to 17 games at any point between 2021 and 2023. An expanded regular season will result in the reduction of the preseason. With the new 17-game schedule, half the league will play nine home games and the other half will play eight -- and that will reverse the Amir Coffey Jersey following season. The NFL is expected to reduce the preseason to three games, so the teams that will have nine regular season games will have just one preseason game. That way, each team has 10 "home games" on a 20-game calendar (counting preseason and regular season).How will the league implement the 17th game? The NFL would have to add two regular season weeks to the 17-week calendar, one for the extra week of games and one for an additional bye week to account for the expanded schedule. A 19-week regular season could start on Labor Day weekend or the league could continue starting on the second weekend of September -- which would make the end of the regular season in mid-January.Each team won't be playing an international game for the 17th game under a new CBA, which only allows up to 10 international games per season. CBS Sports senior writer John Breech had an excellent plan on how the league should add the 17th regular season game to the scheduling formula, .Whether the NFL owners decide to vote on the 17th game Wednesday is still up in the air, but the league appears ready to expand the schedule as soon as po sible Rodney McGruder Jersey -- especially with new television contracts looming.