NEW ORLEANS — “No one wants to play an 18th game. No one.”
Those were the words of NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell on Wednesday, in what amounted to the union’s strongest pushback against another expansion of the NFL’s regular season. It comes three days after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell laid additional foundation to pursue adding another regular-season game to the league’s 17-game slate.
“[Roger] is trying to shape a narrative, for sure,” Howell said Wednesday, during his annual state of the players union address. “About the length of the season, how attractive it could be to the fan base, two preseason [games], 18 games, ends around Presidents [Day] weekend.