Report: NFL plans to expand regular season to 17 games in 2021

The NFL is planning to expand the regular season to 17 games in 2021, a move that would add a contest to the schedule for each team for the first time since 1978, sources told NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero.

An official announcement isn't expected soon as the league must first negotiate at least one new media contract for the added tilts, but sources said that "it's going to happen."

The 17-game slate would generate new revenue for the NFL and could soften an anticipated drop in the salary cap ahead of next season, Rapoport and Pelissero add.

The league is expected to reduce the preseason to two or three games as a result. Each club would still have one bye week, extending the regular season to 18 weeks and pushing back the Super Bowl into the second week of February.

Under the new collective bargaining agreement signed in March, team owners and the NFLPA decided a 17-game schedule could start as early as 2021. Though there was always support for the move at some point, the projected revenue loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic reportedly increased urgency from both parties.

The expansion would open up potential new neutral-site and international contests, as the NFL has been exploring possible matchups in Canada, China, Brazil, and Japan in addition to Mexico and the United Kingdom.