Are you ready for more football?
Regular season football, that is.
On Tuesday, NFL clubs approved at a virtual league meeting an enhanced season structure that beginning in 2021 will feature each team playing 17 regular-season games and three preseason games for the first time.
What it means for the Titans: The New Orleans Saints have been added to the 2021 schedule, and they’ll play at Nissan Stadium at a date to be determined.
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Per an NFL release, the NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in March of 2020 enables the league, with the approval of the union and its players, to enhance the regular season with a move to 17 games, providing fans an extra week of regular-season NFL action.
That decision was confirmed on Tuesday, marking the first change to the season structure since the 1978 campaign ushered in an era of 16 regular-season and four preseason games.
The 17th game will feature teams from opposing conferences that finished in the same place within their division the previous season.
The Titans finished in first place in the AFC South, and the Saints finished in first place in the NFC South.
Under the new scheduling formula, every team plays 17 regular-season games with one bye week. Moving forward, clubs will host 10 games overall – either nine regular-season games and one preseason game or eight regular-season games and two preseason games.
The enhanced season will ensure that beginning in 2022, all 32 clubs will play internationally at least once every eight years. The scheduling of up to four neutral-site games per year in a country outside the United States will focus initially on Canada, Europe, Mexico, South America and the United Kingdom. In addition, interested clubs can continue to volunteer to play home games internationally, as is currently the case.
The official 2021 schedule, with playing dates and times, will be announced later this spring.
Here’s a look at the 2021 schedule for the Titans (includes records for 2020):
Home
New Orleans Saints (12-4)
Buffalo Bills (13-3)
Miami Dolphins (10-6)
Arizona Cardinals (8-8)
San Francisco 49ers (6-10)
Kansas City Chiefs (14-2)
Houston Texans (4-12)
Indianapolis Colts (11-5)
Jacksonville Jaguars (1-15)
Away
New England Patriots (7-9)
New York Jets (2-14)
Los Angeles Rams (10-6)
Seattle Seahawks (12-4)
Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4)
Houston Texans (4-12)
Indianapolis Colts (11-5)
Jacksonville Jaguars (1-15)
Exact dates and times for next season’s games will be announced at a later date. The preseason opponents will also be announced at a later date.
