The NFL is always looking to increase its global footprint. This year, the league had its first-ever international games in Dublin, Ireland, and Madrid, Spain. The league has also been increasing its presence stateside.
The league recently moved to 17 games a season after 43 seasons of being at 16 games. Now, one league owner is dishing on what the league, led by commissioner Roger Goodell, has next.
According to Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots, the league is looking to expand to 18 regular season games, but knows it will have to remove another game from the schedule to compensate, dropping preseason games from three to two.
#Patriots owner Robert Kraft says the NFL wants to move to an 18-game regular season, reduce the preseason from three games to two, and have every NFL team play an international game each season.
(🎥 @985TheSportsHub)
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 20, 2026
Fans reacted to the news on social media.
“Reducing preseason games doesn’t even help with rest, just gives fringe roster guys less of a chance to prove themselves,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“This is a false narrative. More games lead to more injuries. An additional game would necessitate an increase to the roster size, meaning more players would need to be paid, negating or at least minimizing salary increases per person,” someone else added.
“More ACL tears and Achilles ruptures. But these owners don’t care, they just want money,” one fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Players’ Union responds to the news.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.