The Cowboys owner says expansion from 17 to 18 games still needs to be negotiated with the players union.
Jerry Jones thinks the NFL's long-rumored jump to an 18-game regular season could be closer than people realize. Speaking Friday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, the Cowboys owner said he doesn't believe the league is far away from making the change.
He admitted the timeline is fuzzy. Not next month, he said, but maybe next year, or the year after. Either way, Jones was clear that nothing happens without a deal with the players, saying the move has to be negotiated with the union first.
Jones argued the switch benefits everyone involved. He said it would let teams cut back on preseason games while still giving young players more real development time early in the season, something coaches have long wanted without sacrificing roster evaluation time.
The league has made no secret of wanting to move from seventeen to eighteen games, treating it as a matter of when rather than if. The players association has not shown the same enthusiasm, and any change will require working through that resistance before an extra regular-season game becomes official.