2026 NFL Owners Meeting: 5 Storylines to Watch as Execs, Coaches, GMs Convene

PHOENIX — One of the most important weeks of the NFL offseason has arrived. Team owners, general managers, head coaches and other league personnel are convening at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel for the league’s annual meeting. The NFL’s busy schedule includes voting on five rule changes put forth by the league’s 11-person competition committee. The owners will also discuss the continued growth of the game globally, with a league-high nine games scheduled internationally in 2026, including the NFL’s first regular-season foray into Australia. The NFL will also continue its initiative to grow flag football, which received a boost from the recent Fanatics Flag Football Classic in Los Angeles, in which teams mostly consisting of NFL players lost handily to USA Football. “We’ll spend a fair amount of time talking about international growth, joined by a couple of special guests — Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kenny Moore will be there,” Jeff Miller, NFL Executive Vice President overseeing Player Health and Safety, said during a conference call with reporters last week. “And we’ll speak at length about flag and its growth, including the run-up to the Olympics in ‘28 and the premier time for flag to be in the Olympics.” Here are five other big storylines to follow during the meetings this week. 5. Proposal to avoid Fail Mary 2.0 NFL owners will consider a new rule allowing replay assist to correct clear and obvious missed calls temporarily for a year in the event of a referee work stoppage, which would mean the implementation of replacement officials. The last time the NFL used replacement officials was in 2012, due to a lockout. However, that ended three weeks into the regular season with an eight-year agreement after a Monday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, when a replacement official incorrectly ruled a touchdown catch for Golden Tate that ended the game with a victory for the Seahawks. Rich McCay, Atlanta Falcons CEO and chairman of the competition committee, said the league is in a better place to help replacement officials if it gets to the point. At least 24 of the 32 owners are needed to approve the measure. “Replay assist already allows us to do things that we never could do in 2012 and review a ton of plays – scoring plays, turnovers, all those things – and so for us, this was just another bucket we wanted to put in there in case we have to operate under that set of circumstances,” McKay said. The league and the referees reached a stalemate on compensation, along with the amount of dead time for officials during the down period from the end of the Super Bowl in February to May 15. The current agreement is set to expire at the end of May. The two sides were scheduled to meet for two days this week, but broke off talks after just a half day, with both sides claiming they were not negotiating in good faith. “The negotiations with the officials have not gone as quickly as we would have wanted,” Miller said. “We’ve made a number of proposals. We’re looking to improve the accountability and performance of the officials, and we just haven’t gotten to where we need to go. “We’re going to play football this fall, and we’re going to need officials to do it. So, this is part of the preparation, and we felt compelled to make these sorts of decisions in anticipation of playing football in a different environment.” 4. Another Super Bowl in Las Vegas? We’ve seen a lot of repeat Super Bowl locations in recent years. Be prepared for another city to find out it’s hosting the Super Bowl for the second time in a relatively short span this week. Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas is expected to be approved as the host of Super Bowl LXIII during the meeting. Allegiant Stadium hosted its first Super Bowl in 2024, a Kansas City Chiefs overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers. SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, is slated to host the Super Bowl for the second time in February 2027. The Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl in the team’s home stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals the last time SoFi Stadium hosted the game in 2022. And Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium is scheduled to host the NFL’s championship game in 2028 – the second time that facility will host the blockbuster event since the New England Patriots defeated the Rams in 2019. Allegiant Stadium has been home to the Las Vegas Raiders since 2020. 3. The tush push lives The NFL’s most controversial play isn’t going anywhere. A proposal to potentially ban the tush push won’t be put forward when league owners meet this week. A proposal to ban the play put forth by the Green Bay Packers mustered 22 votes last year, falling two votes shy of the required 75% majority for a rule change. Last season, NFL referees struggled to accurately officiate the play at times, failing to see offsides in the close quarters of a scrum. However, defenses did a better job of defending the play and teams converted the tush push at a lower rate in 2025. Teams converted first downs on quarterback sneaks 77.4% of the time last season, compared to 76.4% on tush push plays, according to the league. That’s compared to 2024, when offenses converted first downs on 82.4% of Tush Push plays and 75.8% on traditional quarterback sneaks. Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, a member of the competition committee and an opponent of the tush push in years past, no longer sees the play as an issue. “There are some optics that you’re saying, ‘It doesn’t feel like football,’” McVay said in a conference call. “But it’s like, ‘Hey, get over it.’ It’s not a big deal. If we did it at a high clip like Philly, we would be using it too. “We have to figure out how to stop it and if it becomes a part of our offense, then we’ll figure out how to execute it. … I’m not losing any sleep or thinking much about that one.” Still, will there be some chatter about the play in Arizona this week? We’ll see if other coaches agree with McVay’s assessment and the decision to keep the tush push alive for another year. 2. Where will A.J. Brown land? Teams around the league remain interested in securing the services of three-time All-Pro receiver A.J. Brown via trade, but are the Philadelphia Eagles still willing to move him? Eagles general manager Howie Roseman understands that the Eagles still have a talented roster and remain in a Super Bowl window. However, can the mercurial Brown continue to be a productive part of the team moving forward? And with the draft compensation teams like the Miami Dolphins received for trading Jaylen Waddle this season and the Seattle Seahawks moving DK Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers last year, maybe it makes sense to trade Brown when his value is potentially at a high point? Philadelphia will take a $43.4 million dead money salary cap hit if they trade Brown before June 1. That lowers to just over $16 million if the Eagles move Brown after June 1, so it makes sense for Roseman to be patient. With the New England Patriots and both teams in Los Angeles as potential suitors, this week provides another opportunity for Roseman to assess Brown’s market. 1. Seahawks sale, Mark Davis succession plan for Raiders The Seahawks announced 10 days after winning the franchise’s second Super Bowl that owner Jody Allen is putting the team up for sale, according to the wishes of her brother Paul Allen, who died in 2018 at the age of 65 after complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The annual meeting in Phoenix provides an opportunity for the league to update fellow owners on potential ownership bids for the Seahawks and the expectation for owners to eventually approve vetted, final bid proposals to buy the franchise. NFL owners are also set to vote on a succession plan for Raiders owner Mark Davis that would give minority owner Egon Durban the option to purchase a majority stake in the team from Davis. Durban, the co-chief executive of tech private equity firm Silver Lake, and Discovery Land Company founder Michael Meldman each bought a 7.5% stake in the Raiders two years ago.