NFL approves 17th game, Packers will visit Kansas City

The NFL regular season schedule has expanded for the first time since 1978.

NFL owners met Tuesday and approved the change to a 17-game schedule starting with the 2021 season. The AFC and NFC will alternate yearly on which conference gets nine homes and eight away games, with the AFC getting the extra home game this fall. The preseason has also been shortened to three games.

The decision creates quite a few marquee matchups, including for Green Bay. The Packers will travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs for the second time in three years. The two teams played in 2019 on a Sunday night with the Packers coming out on top against a Kansas City team missing Patrick Mahomes.

The season will expand to 18 weeks and teams will continue to have just one bye week. This season will start Thursday, Sept. 9 and will conclude with Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles on Feb. 13, 2022.

Not everyone was pleased with the addition of the 17th game, which came as a result of the new CBA approved by the NFL and the NFLPA last year.

The Packers full schedule will be released later this spring but here are their opponents:

Home
Chicago
Detroit
Minnesota
Cleveland
LA Rams
Pittsburgh
Seattle
Washington

Away
Chicago
Detroit
Minnesota
Kansas City
Cincinnati
Baltimore
Arizona
New Orleans
San Francisco