NFL players' union interim boss David White says players have 'no appetite' for an 18-game season

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Don’t add to the NFL's regular season as well as provide well-maintained natural grass surfaces for players.

That was a main message from the NFL Players Association to the league.

“Our members have no appetite for an 18th game in the regular season,” NFLPA interim executive director David White said Tuesday at the union’s annual news conference ahead of the Super Bowl. “You heard that last year when the executive committee was up here, and they were talking about what happens to their bodies when they’re with their families, when they’re with their kids. They were very open and candid about that. It’s punishing, and we can see that on the teams that have deep postseason runs.”

White pointed out that several teams had significant injuries in mid-December: Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons tore ACLs in Week 15.

“And if you look at wild-card weekend, which would be the 18th game, if you took that week, really significant injuries,” White said. “Some that were high profile, but a bunch that weren’t, but they happened. And those injuries, they cost players pay, they can shorten careers, they can diminish lifetime earnings. And when your average career is already three to four years, that becomes something that is existential. So the 18th game is not casual for us. It’s a very serious issue. It’s something that comes out of negotiations, and nothing will move forward until players have the opportunity to account for all of those factors, take that into consideration, and then, through negotiations, 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.”

Last week, Patriots owner Robert Kraft made it seem inevitable that the league would eventually expand the regular season from 17 to 18 games.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pulled that back on Monday, saying it’s “not a given.”

The current collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players’ union expires in 2030.

The NFLPA has long sought to make every team implement natural grass in its stadium. White said the union has made “meaningful progress” with the league on field safety.

“Our members have stated over 90% of them that they prefer grass,” White said. “The data that we do have access to shows that the energy return from a synthetic surface is significantly higher than it is on natural grass, which reinforces what players say just from their experience and from common sense. It’s just hard, it’s harder on their bodies. It almost doesn’t matter a synthetic surface. So we need this data if we’re gonna standardize fields and have them be at the level where our players are truly gonna be safe. The work isn’t finished, there’s a lot for us to do, but again, it’s progress, and we’re happy about that."

NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin said the short turnaround for Thursday night games is an ongoing issue for players.

“I think it’s been obvious that players do not support that fast turnaround,” said Reeves-Maybin, a special teams ace with the Chicago Bears. “This game has been played on one day a week for decades, and there’s a reason for that. It’s what goes into playing a football game mentally, physically, emotionally. It’s not the NBA, it’s not the MLB. It’s very challenging on players now. Maybe there are some ways to circumvent that and to ensure that the players are being protected in those ways. I would say, I think guys like to have Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. That’s something I appreciate. But the turnaround Sunday to Thursday, especially for the team traveling, it’s a really tough thing.”

The NFL is playing nine international games in 2026 and wants to expand to 16. White said players appreciate the league’s desire to make the NFL a global powerhouse, but expressed a desire to improve their working conditions.

“When players have a good experience, we’re happy to admit that they have a good experience. They speak positively about it,” White said. “Here’s the issue. They’ve got a lot of feedback about not having good experiences, because it’s inconsistent.”

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