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Afternoon Edition

February 3, 2026

The NFL Players Association knows the league is pushing for an 18-game regular season. But it insists there is still “no appetite” among its membership for an expanded schedule. The comments follow commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday saying 18 games “is not a given.”

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]

NFLPA Chief Says Players Have ‘No Appetite’ for 18th Game [[link removed]]

Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

SAN FRANCISCO — The NFL’s push for an 18-game regular season is gathering steam, despite more tempered comments from commissioner Roger Goodell. The NFL Players Association is well aware of that, but the union insists there is still “no appetite” among its membership for an expanded schedule.

Citing a wide range of concerns regarding player health and safety, and a potential degradation of overall career and earnings opportunities, the union insisted that adding to the regular season was not inevitable.

“The 18th game is not casual for us,” NFLPA interim executive director David White said Tuesday. “It’s a very serious issue. It’s something that comes out of negotiation, and nothing will move forward until players have the opportunity to account for all of [the] factors, take that into consideration, and then through negotiation, agree—or not—to the 18th game. But as it stands right now, players have been very clear. They don’t have any appetite for it.”

Those comments followed those of Goodell on Monday during his Super Bowl press conference, where he insisted that “we have not had any formal discussions about it and, frankly, very little, if any, informal conversations. … It is not a given that we will do that.”

That measured stance contrasts somewhat from the commissioner’s own remarks at the NFL annual meeting last spring, [[link removed]] but dramatically from those of Patriots owner Robert Kraft just last week. Speaking on a Boston radio station, Kraft talked about an 18-game season as if it were a foregone conclusion.

“Every team will go to 18 [regular-season games] and two [preseason games] and eliminate one of the preseason games, and every team every year will play one game overseas,” Kraft said on WBZ-FM.

The latter portion of that comment also leans directly in to the NFL’s fast-growing global ambitions, furthered with Monday’s reveal of three additional international games in the 2026 season [[link removed]] to create a record total of nine. Kraft’s remark also roughly matches another Goodell comment from the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, where he said on The Pat McAfee Show that he would “rather replace a preseason game with a regular-season [game] any day, that’s just picking quality. If we got to 18 and two, that’s not an unreasonable thing.”

Player Concerns

Beyond the issues cited by union leadership around adding an 18th game to the regular season, individual NFL players continue to point out the need for greater compensation. Already, the NFL salary cap for 2026 is projected to be between $301 million and $306 million—more than $20 million greater than this season, and about 50% higher than the level of just four years ago. But there could be a push for even more in return for the elongated schedule.

“If the 18th game is on the table, there’s going to have to be some talks about what makes that worth it to the players,” said Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp. “And we’ll get to that point. We’ll cross that bridge.”

The current labor deal between NFL owners and players expires in 2030, but the rising discussion surrounding the 18th game continues to suggest the potential for an implementation earlier than that. That, too, would require players agreeing to reopen the current deal.

“The league has been more proactive in stating their wishes and their desires,” said NFLPA president and Bears linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin. “But there hasn’t been any true negotiation about that happening.”

What is generally agreed on, though, is that the question of an 18th game is a far more complex matter than just changing a preseason game to a regular-season one. Instead, the potential move raises many questions about scheduling, competitive balance, a potential second bye week for each team, and the overall league calendar.

Further complicating the issue is the union’s ongoing leadership transition amid several overlapping scandals. White took over as interim director after Lloyd Howell quit over [[link removed]] questions about his spending and various conflicts of interest; the organization is now searching for a permanent leader.

“As [the NFLPA] determines their priorities, we are doing the same at the ownership level so that when we get together, we can address these issues together,” Goodell said.

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This is your front-row seat to the future of women’s sports. Don’t miss your opportunity to join us— request to attend [[link removed]].

NFL Says ICE Won’t Be at the Super Bowl [[link removed]]

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents won’t be at the Super Bowl, the NFL said Tuesday.

Agents from the Department of Homeland Security will still be part of security operations around the game, but ICE agents won’t be part of that, according to the league. The federal government hasn’t been clear about which agencies will be involved, which is a break from past Super Bowls.

The Bay Area Host Committee—which has organized the NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl, and the upcoming men’s World Cup—sent a memo to local governments in San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Jose about security. The note said the NFL had confirmed with DHS that “there are no planned ICE immigration enforcement operations associated with SBLX.” DHS will still be on the ground along with NFL security and local law enforcement, the memo said.

The Washington Post [[link removed]] first reported the news about the host committee’s memo.

NFL chief security officer Cathy Lanier clarified Tuesday that ICE won’t be part of the federal government’s security efforts at the Super Bowl at all. “There is not ICE deployed with us at this Super Bowl and I don’t believe there has been in the last several, but most of the other departments from the Coast Guard to … many other agencies are here,” she said [[link removed]].

ICE has received increasing public scrutiny following the killing of protestor Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. The events sparked protests across sports [[link removed]] by athletes [[link removed]] and teams. Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny called for “ICE out” [[link removed]] at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night.

DHS has said it will have a heavy presence at the Super Bowl. But neither DHS nor ICE has publicly said whether ICE will be involved in that activity.

“DHS is committed to working with our local and federal partners to ensure the Super Bowl is safe for everyone involved, as we do with every major sporting event, including the World Cup,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Our mission remains unchanged. We will not disclose future operations or discuss personnel. Super Bowl security will entail a whole of government response conducted in-line with the U.S. Constitution. Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear.”

However, DHS has extensively telegraphed future operations and discussed personnel for Super Bowls in the past.

Last year, DHS posted a lengthy press release [[link removed]] detailing which of its agencies would be involved and what they would be doing. Customs and Border Protection, whose agents killed Pretti [[link removed]], was involved at the Super Bowl with airspace security, video surveillance, scanning cargo at the stadium, and bootleg merchandise, according to the press release. (Both CBP and ICE are sub-agencies under the DHS umbrella.)

ICE was not listed as part of DHS’s operations at last year’s Super Bowl, but it has been involved in other ones. For Super Bowl LI in Houston, for example, ICE’s website lists a day-by-day breakdown [[link removed]] of what its agents were doing in the lead-up to the event. The next year, ICE [[link removed]] posted [[link removed]] a series [[link removed]] of videos [[link removed]] to its official YouTube page about its operations at Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

The confirmation that ICE is not planning enforcement operations is a change of tune for President Donald Trump’s administration. In October, DHS secretary Kristi Noem said, “ We’ll be all over that place [[link removed]].” Noem’s top advisor, Corey Lewandowski [[link removed]], also said that month [[link removed]]: “There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else.”

Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged in remarks on Monday that the federal government, “including this administration and every other administration before that,” plays a large role in Super Bowl security. Goodell was also asked about Bad Bunny [[link removed]] and once again backed the Puerto Rican artist.

“Bad Bunny is, and I think that was demonstrated [at the Grammys], one of the great artists in the world,” Goodell said. “And that’s one of the reasons we chose him.”

FOS at Radio Row

Front Office Sports is at Radio Row in San Francisco’s Moscone Center for Super Bowl LX. Here are some of the people we spoke with on Tuesday.

49ers linebacker Fred Warner would love to play more games abroad. Watch here [[link removed]]. NFL veteran Akbar Gbaja-Biamila explains why the league should play a game in Africa. Watch here [[link removed]]. STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Push

Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Matt Nagy ⬆ The former Bears head coach is joining forces with John Harbaugh, agreeing to a deal to become the Giants’ offensive coordinator. Nagy spent the past four seasons on the Chiefs’ offensive staff and won two Super Bowls, serving as the OC for Kansas City’s 25–22 win in Super Bowl LVIII.

Slam dunk contest ⬆ The field is starting to take shape for the event on Feb. 14, with Pistons center Jalen Duren [[link removed]] accepting an invitation to participate. Duren, a first-time All-Star, joins Jaylen Brown (2024) as the only All-Stars to enter the dunk contest since 2018. One spot remains unannounced, with Lakers center Jaxson Hayes and Spurs rookie Carter Bryant also confirmed.

Ryan Field ⬆⬇ The first game [[link removed]] at Northwestern’s new football stadium will be a primetime Friday night matchup on Oct. 2 against Penn State. The $862 million stadium will not be ready for the start of the college football season, which will result in the Wildcats playing their games against South Dakota State and Colorado at their temporary stadium on the lakefill.

Mountain West ⬆ The conference announced a new media-rights package involving CBS, Fox, and The CW. CBS will have the rights to men’s and women’s basketball championship games, along with 15 regular-season football games. Fox will broadcast the football championship, with The CW getting the rights to only regular-season football and basketball.

Editors’ Picks LIV Golf Finally Awarded World Ranking Points Ahead of 2026 Season [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]LIV wasn’t pleased with the new development. Fanatics Says Only Problem With Super Bowl Merch Is There’s Not Enough [[link removed]]by Griffin Senyek [[link removed]]There is “overwhelming demand” for merch this year compared to prior years. Super Bowl Will Be Test of New Nielsen Measurement [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]Nielsen to test enhanced co-viewing measurement during Super Bowl LX. DAILY TRIVIA Factle Sports

Can you rank the top five NFL quarterbacks by highest passer rating in a Super Bowl?

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Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Games [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Shop [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Margaret Fleming [[link removed]] Edited by Lisa Scherzer [[link removed]], Dennis Young [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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