The NFL has dropped a proposal for an 18-game season and is now focused on expanding the regular season to 17 games, ownership sources said. Owners were briefed on the change at committee meetings in Houston this week. The current schedule is 16 games.



“Not enough owners support (for) 18 and players would not go for it either,” one of the sources said of why the change. The 17-game proposal will be paired with a reduction in the preseason by a game or two from the current four.



There are 18 months remaining on the current 10-year collective bargaining agreement, and the big ask from the owners in the early negotiations that started this summer has been an expansion of the regular season. Owners even floated earlier the idea that players could take two games off an 18 game season.



That idea was widely mocked as unfeasible given fans would be unhappy if they bought tickets and didn’t see all the players.



“Quite honestly, that is...