How many games are in a regular NFL season?

With the 2020 NFL regular season games complete and the Super Bowl game day closing in, it seems like a great time to look ahead to the start of the 2021-22 season.

The regular season games are scheduled to start on September 9th this year and will end in January of 2022. The 2021-22 NFL post-season will begin on Saturday on January 8th next year and will end on February 6th at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, and the NFL Network will broadcast the games.

The league's current 16-game schedule is expected to end in 2021 due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which has led to a 17th game being added to the season. The 2021 regular season is the first to be eligible for expansion under the agreement. The NFL season previously consisted of 16 regular season games since 1978.

From @GMFB: The NFL is expected to add a 17th game to the regular season in 2021. Details here https://t.co/ShD7J4HkCG and 👇🏻 👇🏻 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/3JBBy2BGxo

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 28, 2020

The option to expand the schedule is still not voted for or against by league owners, but the groundwork has been laid out to incorporate the 17th game into the next season.

The league may add an extra week to the regular season by adding an extra bye week, which the league had experimented with back in 1993. The regular season will now take 18 weeks to complete.

NFL hasn’t adjusted the playoff format since 2002, when the Texans joined the league and the NFL split into eight, four-team divisions. Six playoff teams in each conference has been around since 1990.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 20, 2020

By adding an extra week in the regular season, the NFL will decrease the preseason to two or three games. The decision to expand the NFL playoff games is due to the ongoing COVID- 19 pandemic. Many teams struggled with continuous COVID-19 outbreaks, multiple cancellations, postponements, and players being ruled out due to the virus this season.

NFL draft schedule

The NFL draft is scheduled to occur in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29th to May 1st this year. The Jacksonville Jaguars will have the first overall pick. Preseason training games will be held from late July to the end of August. The 2021-22 NFL schedule will be released in April this year.

The Jaguars have clinched the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL draft.🔮🔮🔮 pic.twitter.com/WMSXJoitTi

— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2020

How many teams will feature in the NFL?

The league expanded the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams to feature seven teams per conference. This would entail four division winners, and an extra wild card team has been added in the NFC and AFC.