Report: NFL drops proposal for 18-game season, focused on 17

The NFL has dropped its proposal for an 18-game regular-season schedule in the next collective bargaining agreement and is instead focused on expanding to 17 games, ownership sources told Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic.

The new proposal will reportedly also include a reduction of one or two preseason games.

"Not enough owners support 18 (games) and players would not go for it either," the source told Kaplan.

Owners reportedly attached a 16-game limit for individual players to their first plan in order to alleviate fears about the player-safety implications of two extra games. However, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith rejected the idea soon after it was outlined.

While the league dropped a game from its original proposal, it apparently isn't abandoning the possibility of expanding the playoffs by one extra team per conference.

The current CBA will expire in 2021.

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