Well, it’s official — starting in 2021, the NFL will move to a 17-game regular season schedule. One preseason game is going away, an extra regular season game goes into the rotation, and the league will continue on with just a single true bye week.
This move obviously means an extra week of football for fans, which should be fun. Fantasy football leagues will expand out their regular seasons by another week, too, giving one additional opportunity for bragging rights before the playoffs. There will be more money flowing into owners’ pockets with the new TV deals, which were surely predicated on the move to an 18-week schedule, and players’ share of league revenue now officially kicks up to 48 percent.