Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business interviewed Bears president Ted Phillips recently.
↵Among the information passed along in that interview was this, regarding the possibility the NFL will expand to an 18-game regular season:
↵↵↵“There are a lot of issues involved,” Mr. Phillips said. “The positive is that it would generate more revenue in which to help get a new collective bargaining agreement. That’s probably the overriding reason. There’s concern on the football side of things. . . .If I was a betting man, I’d say as part of the collective bargaining agreement, we’ll see an 18-game regular season.”
↵If the league does add two extra games, Mr. Phillips wouldn’t be surprised if the Bears played one of those games in Europe.
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Stay tuned. The Bears played an exhibition game against the Cowboys in London in 1986, but have not been involved in the NFL regular season games played there. The Bears will play their first regular season game outside the USA on November 7, when they play the Buffalo Bills in Toronto.
↵The complete video of Ed Sherman’s interview with Ted Phillps is available at the link above.