A 17-game regular season will be one of the main items discu sed when the league's new Collective Bargaining Agreement is hashed out next offseason. It was one of the topics that was brought up during NFL commi sioner Roger Goodell's . Negotiations between the league and players' union under the premise of a 17-game regular season, according to The Washington Post. On Wednesday, during an Nelson Cruz Jersey appearance on Arizona's Sports 98.7 FM, owner/president Michael Bidwill said that of the league extending its regular season for the first time since going from 14 to 16 games heading into the 1978 season. Bidwill also offered his reasoning behind his support of an extended regular season. "I think our fans would like more (games)," Bidwill said, via the team's official website. "We have surveyed our fans. The health/safety data plays out that we can do 17 games and it's not going to impact the safety and the health of the players. I am really proud of the work the league is doing in terms of the health and safety. A lot of big strides have been made. ... We'll see where the players land."For the 17-game regular season to be included in the upcoming CBA, two-thirds of the league's 32-member player representatives will have to vote in favor of the new CBA. Duper Super Bowl week, cornerback and player representative said that he didn't think a 17-game season was "something that players are interested in.""It's odd to me, and it's always odd, when you hear player safety is their biggest concern ... but it seems like player safety has a Ervin Santana Jersey price tag," Sherman said. "Player safety, up to the point of, 'Hey, 17 games makes us this much money, so we really don't care how safe they are, if you're gonna pay us this much money Paul Molitor Jersey to play another game.' And so that's the part that's really concerning for us as a union and us as players because they think that players have a price tag on their health and I don't think we're in the same ballpark in that regard."As Goodell mentioned during his pre s conference, changes would be made to the entire league schedule if a 17th game was added. Along with a reduced preseason, there would also be further restrictions placed on teams' workout and player practice schedules. The league is also reportedly prepared to make other conce sions in exchange for the players' help in signing off on an extended season. Two of those conce sions would likely include changes as it pertains to player discipline and the league's drug policy, specifically as it pertains to marijuana use. The league's desire to add a 17th game to its regular season is simple: NFL owners want a longer season as "a revenue-boosting measure." They also believe, per Mark Maske of The Post, that a longer regular season "would be Logan Morrison Jersey valuable in upcoming negotiations for new network broadcasting contracts."In a recent memo to NFL players, DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players A sociation, said that a 17-game season may also lead to an extended playoff field. As it currently stands, 12 of the league's 32 teams make the playoffs, with the conference's top four teams receiving first-round byes. It's also important to note that an extended season, under the league's new CBA, wouldn't nece sarily start immediately. Based on current conversations between Smith and the players' union, the current discu sion is that an extended season would happen "at some point" during the new CBA. And while several player reps have spoken out against a 17-game season, Goodell exuded confidence when discu sing the current dialogue between the two sides. "We've made a lot of progre s at, now, seven or eight months since we began those discu sions more formally," Goodell said. "In those discu sions, it's been open dialogue. It's been thoughtful. We've addre sed difficult i sues that face our league going forward and looking forward. Both the players and management and everyone at Phil Hughes Jersey the negotiation have worked to try to find creative solutions to make the NFL better. And that's what you want."