The NFL will cross the one million total fan attendance mark in Week 17. Only 102 of 240 games had fans present due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. By comparison, the NFL had more than 17 million fans attend regular season games in 2019.

The NFL has deferred to state and local authorities when it comes to determining the number of fans permitted to attend games.

The NFL is planning to expand the 2021 regular season to 17 games, which would generate new revenue and slightly soften an anticipated drop in the salary cap.

The league must negotiate at least one new media contract to make the move to 17 games in 2021. An official announcement may not come for weeks.

The preseason will be cut to either two or three games.

The regular season will be 18 weeks long and the Super Bowl will be played in the second week of February.

The NFL expanded from 14 games to 16 games in 1978.

The NFL will prohibit mandatory local bubbles during the playoffs, but will allow teams to house players in a hotel on a voluntary basis.

The league's infection rates dropped significantly this month after the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to place each team in "intensive protocols" that limit in-person meetings and require higher levels of mask use, and ultimately both parties decided that the existing protocols were a safer choice.

Some teams have been offering voluntary hotel accommodations during the season for players and coaches who are concerned they could be infected by family members or other people they live with. In the postseason, players and coaches who do stay at a team-sponsored hotel will be required to wear electronic tracking devices.

Fox has hinted at keeping its Sunday package with the NFL and dropping Thursday Night Football.

The NFL has had ongoing talks with its media partners over the past few months. The league’s current rights deal with Disney’s ESPN lapses after the 2021 season, while its contracts with the remaining three last through 2022.

“If there is a choice between the two,” said Steve Tomsic, Fox Corp.’s CFO, speaking to investors at a conference organized by UBS, Fox’s Sunday package “is absolutely core to our hearts.” He added: “The heritage of the company was built on Sunday afternoon football.”

CBS, NBC and Fox are believed to be paying a combined $3.1 billion per year for Sunday games, compared to $1.94 billion a year under the previous contract. ESPN’s rights to broadcast “Monday Night Football” are believed to cost around $1.9 billion per year, compared to $1.1 billion paid in the previous contract. Fox struck a separate deal to broadcast “Thursday Night Football” for five years starting in the fall of 2019, a contract believed to be worth more than $650 million per year.