How Many Weeks Are in the NFL Regular Season?
The NFL schedule is a key determinant of how teams face each other across the NFL regular season of each year. Scheduling takes into account 272 NFL games and considers the availability of stadiums, travel circumstances, international games, and bye weeks.
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There are 18 weeks in an NFL regular season. This is the period in which the league showcases the best talent and matchups. Schedule makers consider events that are already scheduled to occur in or near NFL stadiums. This is to circle out events that may compete with the games and cause logistical crises, create traffic, or put undue pressure on the playing surface. In January, the league embarks on an activity of gathering information from clubs to identify events that may trigger scheduling conflicts.
Internal factors also drive the schedulers’ decision-making. They employ a formula to establish each team’s opponents every year, and a rotating schedule guarantees that every team plays each of the other 31 teams, at least once every four years. Numerous cloud-based computers help generate thousands of possible schedules, out of which schedule makers pick the best possible one. Therefore, the process of creating a schedule that fits two conferences, eight divisions, and all 32 teams is a mammoth task.
The league’s 32 teams are split into two conferences; they are, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). There are 16 teams in each conference, which is split into East, North, South and West divisions. Every division encompasses four teams. In a regular season, every team plays 17 games and has one bye week. Teams usually host nine regular-season games and one pre-season game. Alternatively, teams may host eight regular-season games and two pre-season games.
Schedule makers first establish every team’s opponents and then determine when every game will be played.
Each team is scheduled to face its opponents as follows:
- Against divisional opponents – six games: one game at home and one on the road.
- Against teams from a division within its conference – four games: two games at home and two on the road.
- Against teams from a division in the other conference – four games: two games at home and two on the road.
- Against teams from the two remaining divisions in its own conference – two games: one game at home and one on the road. Matchups are established after division ranking from the previous season.
- Against a non-conference opponent from a division that is not on a team’s schedule – one game (the 17th one). Matchups are a result of division ranking from the previous season.
The NFL Schedule for 2024-25 Season
AFC Divisional Playoffs - Houston Texans v Baltimore Ravens//Getty
The 2024-25 NFL schedule has 18 weeks and 272 games that will span over four months (September - early January), as revealed on May 15, 2024. Prior to the regular season, there are pre-season games that run for three weeks. Then between August and February, there will be four rounds of Playoff games. The NFL playoffs are a four-week post-season event that happens when 14 teams, seven from each conference, progress from the NFL regular season. The teams face off against each other in four rounds of elimination games.
The Playoffs start with the Wild Card Round, where the number one seed in each conference starts. The winning teams get into the Divisional Round and proceed to the Conference Championships, before moving to the Super Bowl. The 2024-2025 NFL Playoffs will start on January 11, 2025, and end in the Super Bowl on February 9, 2025.
In the 2024 season, the NFC will have nine regular-season home games. There is always one bye week per season for every NFL team. Bye weeks run from weeks 5-14 during the NFL regular season; they give teams some resting time, allows coaches to have extra prep time, and helps players to recuperate from intense game sessions. The number of teams sharing one bye week can range from two to six. In the 2024 NFL season, the bye weeks are as follows:
2024-2025 NFL BYE WEEKS SCHEDULE
| Bye Week | Teams on Bye |
| Week 5 | Tennessee Titans, LA Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions |
| Week 6 | Miami Dolphins, Kansas City, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams |
| Week 7 | Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears |
| Week 8 | None |
| Week 9 | Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers |
| Week 10 | Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Las Vegas Raiders, Seattle Seahawks |
| Week 11 | Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, NY Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| Week 12 | Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars, NY Jets, New Orleans Saints |
| Week 14 | Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, Washington Commanders |
The NFL employs flex scheduling, in coordination with their six broadcast partners: NFL Network, FOX, CBS, ESPN and Prime Video. This form of scheduling allows the league to schedule their best matchups in prime-time slots. In the 2024 season, flex scheduling for Thursday Night Football may happen in weeks 13-17 while that for Sunday Night Football may happen twice between weeks 5-10 and weeks 11-17. Monday Night Football games are open for flex scheduling during weeks 12-17. There are matchups scheduled for special holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas and Saturday games are scheduled to happen in weeks 15-18.
The NFL International Series was established in 2007, which added a new twist to the scheduling process. At least once every eight years, each team has to play internationally. In 2024, the NFL will have its first-ever regular season game in Brazil. Week 1 game will be played on Friday night, September 6, 2024, in Sao Paulo.
A good NFL schedule takes into consideration factors that will ensure that fans and broadcast partners have an entertaining and compelling slate of games across the 18 weeks of the schedule. The scheduling teams seek to balance varying factors to generate a smooth-flowing season.
Ian Mugo Wanyeki is based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a sports enthusiast with vast knowledge of different sport disciplines. Ian is a graduate with a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Kenyatta University. He is a Kenyan journalist who’s worked as a sports analyst at Covenant Television Network, as a sports reporter at NTV and as a Sports Correspondent/contributor at Quartz Africa.