David White is currently in place as the NFLPA’s interim executive director. The search for his permanent replacement is underway, and that process will be at the center of the union’s attention until it is complete. 
A new full-time executive director is expected to be in place at some point next year. Until a hire is made, negotiations on the next collective bargaining agreement – in particular, expanding the schedule to 18 regular season games – will understandably be put on hold. Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed as much when speaking at the league’s fall meeting.
“I can’t see anything of significance happening on our side as far as starting formal negotiations until that’s determined,” Goodell said (via Mark Maske of the Washington Post). “In the meantime, we spent a lot of time even in the last couple days talking about our priorities.
“You can’t start negotiations or discussions until both parties are ready. So from my standpoint, we’re going to do our part to be ready… There are a lot of issues that we are going to raise and certainly the players will raise… So they’re going to need time to make sure that they’re prepared, that they’re ready for the negotiations [and] they have their priorities straight.”
Given the fact NFL owners instituted a 17-game schedule at the first opportunity under the current CBA, it has long been assumed another expansion of the regular season would be inevitable. Howell noted last month that may not be the case, and negotiations on this front will see a number of union priorities factored in (such as a potential second bye week along with concerns related to travel and playing surfaces).
The CBA runs through the 2030 campaign, so plenty of time remains for an agreement on the schedule to be reached. Nevertheless, any efforts on the part of owners to approve an 18-game setup along an early timeline will essentially be on hold until White’s successor is in place.
Roger’s getting soft.
Surely there’s a janitor somewhere at the NFLPA headquarters the league can convince to sign a binding agreement with provisions that any dispute be adjudicated via Goodell led arbitration.
18 was inevitable
and then everybody wonders why so many nfl players die before the age of 50?
yea lets have em play a few dozen more games over the course of their careers. as long as nfl/goodell make more and more and more $$. more games, more tickets, more tv, more commercials, more betting, more gambling
A reminder that unlike the other leagues the NFL and NFLPA still does not have a health insurance plan in place for current and former players. If they accept 18 games without addressing this then they shouldn’t ever bring up player healthy and safety again.
I’m not sure of the year but didn’t the NFL provide former players with a huge settlement in exchange for them not bringing injury cases against the league?
The only good thing about an 18 game schedule is that they would only play 2 preseason games.
But it probably means every team will get an international game…which should be preseason.
The CBA runs through the 2030 campaign
Well heck, the NFLPA could probably burn through another 2 or 3 executive directors by then 🙂