One of items brought to the negotiating table by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during the lockout negotiations last offseason was the implementation of a new 18-game, regular-season schedule.
Goodell hasn't give up on the idea of adding two more games to the schedule, though he said last week any changes are still a couple of seasons away.
"Well I appreciate the enthusiasm for it and I hear it from the fans consistently," Goodell said during an interview WEPN-AM in New York, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. "People want more football. I think they want less preseason and more regular season and that's the concept we are talking about here. We wouldn't add an extra two games without reducing the preseason, and we are not going to do it without the players support, so we did that in the collective bargaining agreement instead of having the unilateral right, which we had.
"We determined that we were going to do this together. We are going to make changes in the offseason and during the preseason and during the regular season to make the game safer. If we can accomplish that, we’ll look at the idea of restructuring the season and taking two preseason games away and the potential of adding regular season games. But I don't think that will happen until at least 2013 or 14."
While Goodell reiterated his desire for an expanded schedule, the possibility of league expansion has also been at the forefront of offseason topics. Earlier this month, Goodell said on NBC Sports Network's "Costas Live" that if the league places a team in Los Angeles it's probable it would be via expansion.
Goodell clarified his remarks Thursday in an interview with ESPN 1050 in New York, saying, "We are not considering expansion."