How the NFL can fix its schedule, make more money, and create a safer game

The NFL hasn't let player safety stand in the way of schedule expansion. However, there are ways to make a safer game while still growing the financial pie.

With the NFL hitting one of the quieter stretches of the offseason and the 2026 regular-season schedule recently released, the time seemed right to revisit a topic I first tackled a decade ago: how to fix the schedule to make games safer for players while still allowing the league to grow the financial pie.

Back then, teams only played 16 games over a 17-week schedule, but the NFL had already signaled its intention to expand the schedule. A 17th game finally arrived in 2021, and commissioner Roger Goodell has made no secret of his desire to add an 18th in the near future. This development comes on the heels of the schedule adding games on virtually every day of the week, including a stark increase in the international series. Just this week, the owners voted to up the total of international games to 10 with an eye on eventually reaching 18.

In 2016, I made the case for the NFL moving to a 16-game, 18-week schedule. Sadly, the outlet where I published that article -- Sports on Earth, may it rest in peace -- has since disappeared from the internet. Fortunately, I still have a copy of that story in my personal archives.

Today’s edition of The Leap will republish that piece. While the NFL has moved past 16 games, the strategies discussed in that story would still apply to the 18-game schedule that Goodell and the owners want.

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Around this time every year, the NFL releases the full regular-season schedule, ensuring endless debate about which team received the hardest or easiest path to the playoffs. While the matchups became official following the conclusion of Week 17’s slate of games, the order and timing of the games can make a significant difference. Certainly, facing a tougher opponent after a bye week makes for easier preparation than coming off a short week. In a related matter, most teams prefer their byes during the middle of the year, yet the earliest ones occur in Week 4. And perhaps above all, every club wants to know when and who it has to play for the dreaded Thursday night game.

These concerns underscore a larger problem with the NFL schedule. For a league in constant pursuit of increased revenue and creating a safer product to quell the concerns of players and fans, the scheduling model it uses does a poor job of accomplishing either goal. Too many contests have overlapping time slots, and though the league debates the increased injury risk, the Thursday tilts too often result in a substandard on-field product. With fantasy football and sports gambling increasing interest in matchups beyond the fans of the teams involved, the NFL could squeeze far more out of the games it already has with a better schedule.

The NFL and NFLPA have discussed altering the schedule, but those talks have mostly revolved around adding games to the regular season, a concept that flies in the face of the player safety both sides claim to value. Instead, the league and the union could build a new scheduling model that involves no additional games but increases revenue by making more matchups available to the fans who want them.

(Re-)introducing the 18-week, 16-game schedule

The NFL did not always schedule teams for a single bye week during the regular season. Back in 1993, each club received two byes, an experiment that lasted one year due to complaints from coaches and players that the extra week off made for a wonky experience. That notion seems utterly hilarious years later, with the league vastly increasing its non-Sunday programming.

The NFL already has an issue with bye weeks coming too early or too late, so creating a second one for every team should address the problem significantly. In addition to giving players a second opportunity to rest during the season, the extra bye creates a longer regular season. In a world where cord-cutting has made live events more valuable than ever to broadcasters, an additional week of regular-season football games could pad the wallets of everyone involved.

Even the least desirable matchup of NFL teams garners millions of eyeballs. Take the 2014 tilt between the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars, which featured the forgettable quarterback duel of Charlie Whitehurst and Blake Bortles. Despite the two signal-callers combining for just one touchdown, the game attracted nearly 5 million viewers, more than double that of any other sports broadcast from that evening.

Put differently, fans want as much NFL action as they can get. For many, spending part or all of their Sundays in front of their TVs has become a ritual. It only makes fiscal sense for the league to increase the number of weeks it can service its customers.

However, the NFL loads up the Sunday early slate with so many matchups that most fans miss games they would otherwise watch. By spreading out those games, the NFL stands to increase its viewership and revenue. Certainly, advertisers would jump at the chance to run commercials for another week during the regular season.

The fix for Thursday Night Football

The added bye can serve another purpose besides creating another week of play. The NFL could also use the extra week of rest to improve one of its worst products: Thursday Night Football.

Since its inception in 2006, Thursday Night Football has received poor reviews due to the quality of play. Teams take the field four days after their previous game, often producing sluggish play and unexciting results. Furthermore, players and coaches argue that the short week increases the risk of injury, further diminishing the product beyond Thursday.

“If they are really concerned about the violence and injuries and players getting hurt, answer this question for me, and I’m going to leave y’all with this: Why is there Thursday Night Football?” former Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed said in 2012. “We played three games in (12) days. Why is there Thursday Night Football?”

Said Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians when still with the Indianapolis Colts: “The recovery time from Sunday to Thursday is ridiculous, especially after playing a very physical game, and then to have to travel. When you add the travel in, you may get some swelling out of your body, but on that airplane, you’re going to swell right back up.”

The NFL could avoid the problem and save Thursday Night Football by scheduling teams for those games only after a bye. The week of rest would guarantee players feel as fresh as possible heading into those matchups, producing a better product for viewers and removing the health concerns that Thursday games create. As an added bonus, teams receive a miniature bye week following the games, providing extra recovery time for players on the back end, too.

Reducing logistical problems with international play

When an NFL team inevitably moves overseas -- a prospect the league has worked toward in earnest for over a decade -- it will create another scheduling headache. Not only must a team located outside of North America start home games at odd times, but visiting teams have to deal with jet lag and the time change while also preparing for a game.

“We’re still trying to make sure we can do it from a proper competitive standpoint,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said earlier in April. “You don’t want to put a team over there and have them at a competitive disadvantage. And then the logistics, how you work that out. That’s not easy.”

However, the same tactic that could improve Thursday Night Football applies to these games. The NFL could make sure any team traveling internationally does so after a bye week, with those matchups taking place on a day before Sunday, if not Thursday itself. The added time before and after the game allows players and coaches to adjust to the time change in both directions. While the strategy doesn’t resolve all the issues associated with relocating a team to another continent, it does take some of the sting out of the travel.

-- Jason B. Hirschhorn is an award-winning sports journalist and Pro Football Writers of America member. Follow him on social media: @by_JBH on Twitter / @byjbh@bsky.social on Bluesky / @by_jbh on Threads