Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
NFL owners approve 17-game regular season
Dolphins to now face NFC East opponent at home
The NFL is increasing the regular season to 17 games and reducing the preseason to three games to generate additional revenue for America’s most popular sport.
Team owners on Tuesday approved the 17th game, marking the first time in 43 years the regular season has been increased. It went from 14 to 16 games in 1978.
Each extra NFL game will be an interconference matchup based on where teams finished in the previous season.
The Miami Dolphins and the rest of the AFC East will play the NFC East in 2021. Since the Dolphins (10-6) finished in second place in the AFC East in 2020 and the Giants (6-10) finished in second place in the NFC East, the two teams will face each other in their 2021 regular-season finale.
The Dolphins, for the first time, will be scheduled to play 11 games in the state of Florida, including a road game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are expected to take Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. The Dolphins also will play the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and five-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, who will be 44 during the 2021 season, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
The Dolphins’ 2021 opponents were determined in January, but the dates and times of those games won’t be released until May after April’s draft.
As for the remaining AFC East-NFC East matchups in Week 17, Washington will visit Buffalo, Dallas will play at New England, and Philadelphia will visit the New York Jets.
The NFC West teams will visit AFC North clubs, with Seattle at Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Rams at Baltimore, Arizona at Cleveland and San Francisco at Cincinnati.
NFC South members go to the AFC South, so New Orleans will be at Tennessee, Tampa Bay at Indianapolis, Carolina at Houston and Atlanta at Jacksonville.
For NFC North clubs, Green Bay goes to Kansas City for a juicy matchup of Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes, while Chicago is at Las Vegas, Minnesota at the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit at Denver.
The Buccaneers will kick off the 2021 season on Thursday, Sept. 9. The regular season will end Jan. 9.
As for fans in the stands — 119 games, including the postseason, had some in-person attendance during the coronavirus-impacted 2020 season, with approximately 1.2 millions fans in total — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sounded optimistic.
“We’re discussing plans to welcome back all fans across the country at all stadiums,” he said. “All of us want to see every one of our fans back. Football is not the same without fans, and we expect to have full stadiums in the upcoming season.”
Last season, the league added two playoff teams to increase the number of postseason games. Now, it is adding 16 more matches, or “inventory,” as league executives often refer to it.
The Super Bowl, which will be played in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium, now will move back a week to Feb. 13 — which places it directly in the middle of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Coincidentally, NBC has the broadcast rights to both.
“This is a monumental moment in NFL history,” Goodell said.
“The CBA with the players and the recently completed media agreements provide the foundation for us to enhance the quality of the NFL experience for our fans. And one of the benefits of each team playing 17 regular-season games is the ability for us to continue to grow our game around the world.”