The NFL still hasn’t locked in a date for Super Bowl LXII. League owners have already met twice this offseason, but neither meeting produced a final decision. That delay has started to feel intentional. By keeping the schedule flexible, commissioner Roger Goodell and the league appear to be leaving the door open for a potential move from a 17-game season to an 18-game format as early as 2027.

Still, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, that timeline may be too ambitious. The growing belief now is that the league’s long-expected shift to an 18-game schedule is more likely to arrive with the 2028 season instead.

“A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that it’s highly unlikely the season will expand to 18 games by 2027,” Florio reported. “The current 17-game season, with one bye, points to February 13, 2028, as the date for Super Bowl LXII to be played in Atlanta. Unless and until the league announces that day as the date for the game, there’s still a chance it will slide deeper into the month to accommodate a longer season.”

According to earlier comments from Roger Goodell, the NFL has been aiming towards an 18-game season in the latter half of this decade, with the 2028 season being the earliest to implement these changes. However, the league has yet to set a date for the Big Game. As of now, February 13, 2028 appears to be a possibility, as it falls on the second Sunday of February.

Although it’s been revealed that Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta will be the Super Bowl host for next year, taking on the logistical challenge of adding another game and shifting to a new schedule will certainly be difficult. With this new schedule of 18 games, the league will have two byes, two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl (LXII), which will be played on February 27, 2028. February 20 (Presidents Day weekend) has also been rumored to be the Super Bowl LXII landing spot for an 18-game season, according to Pro Football Talk.

This change could be implemented in 2028, allowing the league to boost its position ahead of the opt-out dates for various broadcasters three years later. These opt-out clauses allow the league to terminate its agreements with all major network partners (CBS, NBC, Fox, and Amazon) after the 2029 season, with ESPN’s opting out one year later in 2030. With this larger revenue compared to the shorter previous years, the NFL could further drive up prices for its broadcasting rights.

While it appears to be a matter of when and not how for the NFL’s 18-game expansion, another major challenge faced by the league is the constant push and pull with the NFLPA.

NFL’s 18-game expansion faces challenges from the NFLPA

With the NFL, led by Roger Goodell, wanting to usher in the league’s new 18-game-a-season era, the top brass are facing major issues from the NFLPA, led by NFLPA executive director JC Tretter. Goodell previously discussed the possibility of an 18-game season on February 2 and described it as something they want to resolve with the “union leadership.”

“As you know, they’re going into a transition, and hopefully that will get solidified this spring,” Goodell said. “And as they determine their priorities, we are doing the same on the ownership levels so that when we get together, we can address these issues together.”

However, addressing the expansion in its entirety, the former Cleveland Browns center recently stressed the potential health risks for players with an extra regular-season game.

“There are things that are not good for our players that we need to make sure we’re protecting them from,” Tretter said in an interview with Mike Jones of The Athletic. “And as of right now, those are all subjects of bargaining. The league can’t expand past 10 international games. The league’s at 17 games in the CBA; that is where we’re at, and we’re going to make sure we defend our players and their health and safety because our guys feel they know what this feels like.”