The dry desert heat baked the resort grounds this week, but the real fire radiated from the negotiation rooms. Owners don’t just want more football; they want a complete monopoly over the television calendar. Indianapolis Colts CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon didn’t blink when addressing the media on Sunday. She publicly backed the expansion, citing the inferior product of preseason football and the financial windfall awaiting both sides.
“Preseason is, as far as the fan product goes, the commissioner has openly said that it’s not the best product that we have,” Irsay-Gordon explained. “I think as long as the players want it—which I think they would, because it would mean more revenue—I think it’s ultimately a better product.”
But making it work requires navigating a treacherous labor minefield. The league currently splits revenue at a nearly 50-50 ratio with the players. Expanding the schedule inflates the overall pie, but it also multiplies the physical toll on athletes already pushed to the breaking point. Recent late-season knee injuries to stars like Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons hang over these discussions like a dark cloud. The human body simply wasn’t built for a 20-week professional football marathon. You could almost feel the tension in the air as team executives casually tossed around the idea of adding more miles to their players’ tires.
“I was a guy that my last few years where I would finish a game on Sunday and I wouldn’t be able to walk until Thursday. Our job is to work our ass off for the next two, three, four or five years to prepare for that moment and go succeed.”
— JC Tretter, NFLPA Executive Director
Tretter doesn’t view this debate from a luxury suite. He views it from the training room. Elected as the NFLPA’s executive director just weeks ago in March 2026, the former Browns center returns to the union with a clear mandate: protect the players at all costs. Tretter knows the trenches. He knows that an extra game isn’t just another Sunday; it is another car crash.
The current Collective Bargaining Agreement runs through the 2030 season, but the NFL rarely waits for a contract to expire before securing its bag. The league wants to renegotiate its $110 billion media rights deals early, and an 18-game schedule is the ultimate bargaining chip for broadcasters like NBC, CBS, and Amazon.
Expect the league to float compromises in the coming months, such as capping individual players at 17 active games per season to feign concern for player safety. The NFLPA will instantly reject this. The real battle lines are drawn over guaranteed contracts, a mandatory second bye week, and expanded game-day rosters. If the owners want 18 games, they will have to buy it at an astronomical premium. The 2026 season will safely feature 17 games, but the war for the 18th has officially begun. The owners fired the first shot in Phoenix; now we wait to see how Tretter returns fire.
