The NFL’s owners want 17-game seasons and they’re willing to bend on at least some issues to get them. Among those points: many owners seem willing to make the league’s marijuana policy less punitive towards players, Mark Maske of The Washington Post tweets. 
[RELATED: Goodell On 17-Game Season]
Many league owners are also in favor of potentially altering, or weakening, Roger Goodell‘s power structure (link). That would mean neutral arbitration for appeals of discipline imposed by the NFL for off-field misbehavior, though Goodell would retain his power for integrity-of-the-game issues.
The NFL is reportedly “very serious” about adding another game to the regular season schedule. Part of the tradeoff would involve the shortening of the preseason schedule, though it’s unclear if that means a larger portion of the pie for the league’s players.
Earlier this week, Goodell discussed the possibility of a 17-game slate with reporters and disclosed that his proposed plan would push the Super Bowl into mid-February, with the same September start time.l
NFL Preseason is another sport (need to fix the the last 10 players spots)..season 18-19 weeks…56 players/a team active on sunday..8-10 locked players-squad ( no waivers)..so september trim will be from 90 to 64/66..they know schemes..it is better for teams and players
So if the owners are seeking neutral arbitration that implies that they believe Goodell is corrupt…yet they want him as the guardian of league integrity? Doh!
No owner is “seeking” neutral arbitration. That would be something coming from the players union. The article simply states there are owners in ‘favor” of it. They can’t just have their 17 game season, the have have to concede something for it.
Neutral arbitration for punishment is common, not only among other sports, but also with many collectively bargained jobs. The current system in the NFL is very owner friendly; remember the Commissioner is their representative. It’s an easy concession for ownership to make. Literally “we’ll agree to do this the way all these other places do, in exchange we get…”
I’d also point out that loosening up on pot is another easy concession. Neither relaxing pot penalties, nor neutral arb, have any significant impact on ownerships’ share of revenues. Both are ways to give the players something they want, without giving them much of anything from the owners perspective.
Players would be stupid not to agree with these changes. Get rid of 2 preseason games & add 1 regular season paycheck & ability to smoke weed
Should be a no brainer
I just wish they would get rid of the stupid London games.
Personally, the 17 game season and potential of uneven homegames/each team having to play a game on neutral territory is more fanfare crap that makes the NFL seem less like a professional sport and more scripted. The thought of that combined with the ever increasing replay review and penalties make me want to watch less and less.
Sometimes you just want to watch the players play. That’s becoming increasingly difficult to do.