No end in sight for NFL expansion and 4 other lessons from the owners meeting

PHOENIX - How much is too much NFL?

There's another Christmas tripleheader coming. Another Black Friday matchup. On top of the traditional three-spot on Thanksgiving and late-season Saturday games, the league is planning for the first time to roll with a Thanksgiving Eve event - which would be the second Wednesday slot this season as the NFL's Kickoff Game, featuring the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks against an opponent TBD, has been moved up a day.

Got it? The only day of the week the NFL won't have a game this season is Tuesday.

And don't forget: With the NFL poised to stage a record nine international games this season, the XL Sunday package with early-morning games is expanding.

This, before the NFL ultimately ramps up its desires for an 18-game season.

It's no wonder someone asked Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones this week about the idea of over-saturation for the NFL product, referencing the pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered" warning that former NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban famously stated to ESPN about the NFL in 2014.

Jones' comeback: When ducks quack, feed them."

In other words, with the NFL coming off another historic year for viewership (the 2025 season was the second most-watched in history after 1989) and with league revenues hitting the $25 billion-per-year range, there's no sudden urge to pull back.

OK, the NFL will scrap the idea of showing dual Monday night games on ESPN and ABC. Hans Schroeder, the NFL executive vice president of media distribution, said fans felt conflicted" with the four times in 2025 that there were multiple MNF options.

No worries. The four second MNF games" are among the five games in the total inventory with distribution still unassigned, adding options for other windows - which includes the possibilities of adding to the streaming packages. And it's pretty much a given that one of games will flip to the Thanksgiving Eve matchup that Schroeder called a natural way to grow." It seems destined to be streamed.

Schroeder hails the NFL's traditional model, which resulted in 88% of the games on broadcast TV, 100% for the home markets of the participating teams. Yet the footprint with streaming - the NFL has partnered with Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube and Peacock - will only continues to grow while the league can eye opting out of its current media deals after the 2029 season.

We know our fans are spending time on those other platforms and we want to be there, too," Schroeder said.

And with the numbers the highest in a decade for the 2-to-17 and 18-to-34 demographics, per Schroeder, the link between younger viewers and streaming is palatable.

Added Jones: We have great demand. We should address it, respond to it, and feed it."

Which will make the pig (and the revenue pie) get even fatter.

Four other things learned during the NFL owners meetings:

Mandate requiring all 32 NFL teams to have full-time clinicians is huge

Every NFL team will be required to have a full-time psychological clinician, and the NFL's expansion of mental health and behavioral services resonates further after the tragedies in recent months that involved the deaths by suicide of Cowboys defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland and Vikings receiver Rondale Moore.

More: 'This doesn't go away quickly.' Marshawn Kneeland tragedy leaves waves of despair

Last season, just eight teams had full-time psychological clinicians on staff, with three others providing full-time coverage with multiple clinicians. Most teams had such professionals on hand on a part-time basis.

You need someone who is completely integrated," Nyaka NiiLampti, the NFL's vice president of wellness and clinical services, told USA TODAY Sports. It's hard to do that when you're there two or three hours a day."

NiiLampti stressed that the expanded services are not just for players.

This is for everybody in the building," she said.

Landing Super Bowl 63 a clear sign of more to come for Las Vegas

Las Vegas was awards a second Super Bowl in five years, getting the showcase game for 2029. It seems that Sin City is now an undeniable part of the Super Bowl rotation.

Well, they won't ever admit to anything as far as rotations, but I think it will be," Raiders owner Mark Davis told USA TODAY Sports. I mean, you've got owners saying we want to do it every year."

Las Vegas held Super Bowl 58 in 2024.

I've always felt that first impressions are the best impressions," Davis said. And we set it up pretty good the first time. Now we get to raise the bar."

What can the next Vegas Super Bowl do better?

That's my secret sauce," Davis shot back. We'll figure it out. You'll find out."

Timetable for Chicago Bears stadium project is getting tight

Arlington Heights, Illinois or Hammond, Indiana? Kevin Warren, the Bears president and CEO, won't call it a hard deadline but stressed that a decision on the location needs to come by early summer if the team will get a new domed stadium to open by its desired date in 2030. While Indiana lawmakers have already approved a stadium bill, Illinois is considering a bill that could address infrastructure funding and tax-rate certainty for the Bears, who purchased 326 acres at a former racetrack in 2023.

It's going to take us three years to build," Warren told USA TODAY Sports, envisioning the multi-use stadium and entertainment district.

Warren said that in addition to completing site-specific designs, the volatility of financial markets is a stressor.

Capital markets, they're all over the place," Warren said. So, we need to make sure that we lock in our financing, lock in interest rates and buy steel. These things are massive projects. So, that's something I'm focused on, that I've got to pray throughevery single day, to make sure that financially, we lock this in."

NFL Olympians? Maybe not

Pump the brakes on flooding the U.S. Olympic Flag Football Team with NFL stars. At least that's the opinion of Broncos coach Sean Payton, who added a layer of credibility as one of the coaches for the recent Fanatics Flag Football Classic in Los Angeles that included NFL players competing against accomplished flag players from the US National Team.

I think when this was first announced there was this feeling that there would be 10 NFL players on that roster," Payton said, referring to the U.S. flag football team for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

I'll be surprised if there's one. I think we have plenty of players that can acclimate, but it's going to take a month or two. And if you're one of those players, do you have that month or two?"

More: Winners (Team USA) and losers (NFL players) from Fanatics Flag Football Classic

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who attended the Fanatics event, acknowledged the differences between flag and tackle football, yet still expects there will be NFL players on the Olympic team.

Just know Payton might not be easy to convince after teaming with Jim Harbaugh to coach one of the flag teams.

That was humbling," Payton said of the experience. Remember the Home Alone series? And Macaulay Culkin was inside (the house). Well, Macaulay Culkin was the international team, and I felt like, Coach Harbaugh and I, were the two guys outside getting hit in the head, tripping over the garden hose. It's an entirely different game."

Contact Bell atjbell@usatoday.comor follow on X: @JarrettBell

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL expanding TV schedule (again) and other lessons from owners meeting