JC Tretter became the executive director of the NFL Players Association on April 1. Despite the league’s desire to rectify a situation that had rendered its business objectives (as one source told PFT earlier this year) “constipated,” the NFL and NFLPA have yet to begin discussions regarding a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

More specifically, long-time NFL reporter Mark Maske reports that the parties have not begun “formal negotiations” on an extension to the labor contract that runs through the 2030 season.

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The centerpiece of the next CBA will be, if the league gets what it wants, 18 regular-season games and 16 international games per year.

Maske notes that the situation “further reduces” the chance that the NFL will expand to 18 regular-season games by 2027. PFT has reported that an 18th game is highly unlikely at this point, but that the door remains open until the NFL locks in a specific date for Super Bowl LXII, to be played in Atlanta in February 2028.

It seems to be a matter of “when” not “if” that the NFL will get its wish for 18 regular-season games and 16 annual international games. Come March 2031, the league would lock the players out until they accept those terms. Given the historical unwillingness of the players to miss games and lose game checks, they would likely accept the terms before the cancellation of games.