NO INCREASE IN REGULAR-SEASON GAMES FOR 2009

Despite a recent suggestion from Steelers chairman Dan Rooney that the NFL could add a 17th game as soon as 2009, the possibility falls into the “extremely freakin’ unlikely” category at this point.
Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed that the league will retain the current 16-game schedule for at least next year.
“We have been working on this for some time,” Goodell said from annual fall owners’ meeting. "[There will] be no vote. There’s no recommendation at this point in time. It’s something that we think deserves consideration because it would grow the pie. It would help create new revenue. Help create opportunities, potentially to expand the rosters and create new jobs.”
But as Goodell has previously explained (most recently on The Dan Patrick Show in late August), the regular season can’t be expanded without the consent of the union, and thus likely will be part of the coming CBA discussions. Another issue to be considered is the effect of an expanded schedule on the broadcasting contracts, most of which run through 2011. In a tough economy, it’ll be very hard for the NFL to get a ton of extra money from the networks for an extra week or two in the last couple of years of the pending deals -- or to get the kind of big-money, comprehensive contract extension before the current deals expire.
Goodell has said that, as a result, an expansion of the regular can’t occur until 2010, at the earliest.