The NFL has long flirted with the idea of expanding to an 18-game schedule, having only expanded to 17 games back in 2021, and it appears that this proposal is still very much on the table.
Not only did NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been compared to NASCAR president Steve Phelps, recently reveal that such an expansion could still take place, but it could also result in the Super Bowl being pushed back by a week, potentially clashing with the NASCAR Cup Series’ first points scoring race of the season, the Daytona 500.
Goodell addressed the possibility of moving the Super Bowl to President’s Day weekend during an appearance on TODAY, to which he responded, “I think if you went to an 18-week regular season, that would probably occur.
“It is possible somewhere in the calendar. Could happen before that just because of the calendar, the way it lays out. But I think 18 weeks would get you to that point, and I think it would be a really great move.”
Elaborating on his stance, Goodell went on to say that he felt such a move from the league would make “sense for a lot of reasons. Again, the quality of the game, also I think the timing works out great.”
Should the NFL decide to push the Super Bowl back to coincide with the President’s Day Weekend, taking advantage of the extra day off, it seems likely NASCAR would need to move the historic Daytona 500.
Given that there is a two-week break between the season-opening Clash race and Daytona, moving the race back by a week could be feasible. However, if the NFL were to expand its regular season, this would surely require it to push back its entire postseason schedule, meaning it could yet coincide with either the Clash or Daytona. This, again, could require NASCAR to rethink the dates of its first two races, to avoid losing out on viewership.
Goodell’s comments drew a plethora of responses on social media from fans seeking a solution to the potential scheduling dilemma heading NASCAR’s way, such as one who commented, “Move it to Saturday… or Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July weekend, or Labor Day weekend.”
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A second suggested, “In a fantasy world we could have Daytona start at 11am and the SB start around 6pm, same day…. The financials and industries would never go for it but I can dream.” While a third replied, “Saturday night Daytona 500. Then Sunday Super Bowl.”
Alternatively, NASCAR could follow Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott’s advice and condense its schedule to allow for more off weekends. In a recent interview with ‘The Teardown,’ Elliott suggested that adding more weekends off “Would be a win for everyone and make people hungrier for what we have and what we do.”
The 2020 Cup Series champion went on to note, “I’m fine running 50 races. Great, let’s run 50 races between February and Labor Day. Weeknights, whatever you want to do. I’m totally fine racing as much as you want to race. I just think the calendar year time we burn up is what we could help with in creating some hunger in those off months.”