NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials are looking to change the league’s longstanding policy to ban all live football games, according to a report by Fox Sports.
The change would take effect on January 1, 2019, and would prohibit any NFL game from being played on a Sunday night or day of the week during the NFL’s season.
Goodell said in February that he would be looking to implement such a rule within the next two weeks.
Fox Sports first reported the new plan.
Fox sports reporter Joe Schad wrote that a memo written by NFL vice president of communications David Boren has the league asking NFL owners to “immediately” suspend the current season and begin the 2019 season without pregame games, which would require them to suspend all games and practices from January 1 through December 31.
FoxSports’ Bill Barnwell and Adam Schefter also reported that the league will likely ask owners to ban games on Sunday night and on any day of week.
This is not the first time the NFL has sought to curb the game of football.
The league has also tried to curb its popularity by restricting players’ ability to travel to stadiums and by instituting a ban on fans wearing helmet stickers during games.