17-contest slate for NFL 2021 campaign

Image: LV Raiders

Commencing with the upcoming 2021 campaign, the National Football League (NFL) is expanding its regular season to 17 games per team. The NFL 2021 season will start on September 9^th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida (US), the home stadium of the defending Super Bowl LV champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and will conclude on January 9^th, 2022.

‘NFL’ stated that NFL owners voted in approval of the change on March 30^th, 2021 at the Annual League Meeting, which is taking place in the hybrid mode due to COVID-19 still continuing with its ferocity.

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC).

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement, “This is a monumental moment in NFL history. The CBA with the players and the recently completed media agreements provide the foundation for us to enhance the quality of the NFL experience for our fans. And one of the benefits of each team playing 17 regular-season games is the ability for us to continue to grow our game around the world.”

The ‘NFL’ further stated that each club will now take part in an additional AFC vs. NFC game based on division standings from the prior season and on a rotating divisional basis with AFC teams as the home squad for the additional game this season. The preseason schedule will now consist of three games per team. All 32 teams will play in at least one international game once every eight years, according to the new enhanced schedule.

The 17^th matchup for each team this season:

The Super Bowl LVI will take place on February 13^th, 2022 at the eye-catching SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The 2022 Pro Bowl will be played on February 6^th at the alluring Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

The new schedule brings about a historic change for the League, however, the same was expected.

Since 1978, the League has played a 16-game regular season, as it added two games to the previous 14-contest slate. Now it will add one more.

As per the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) from March 2020, the NFL first had to negotiate at least one new media contract to make the move to expand to 17 games. The League’s new media deal came to fruition and was announced on March 18^th, thus setting in motion the shift to 17 games.

Following the League’s drop in salary cap for the 2021 season due to the COVID-19 thwack, the schedule expansion is expected to partially lighten the effects of the cap drop and generate new revenue.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero noted the approval of the new media deal and the 17-game schedule will trigger the “media kicker” in the CBA, which will increase the players’ share of all revenue to more than 48 percent.

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