NEW ORLEANS — If history is a guide, the NFL is on track to expand its regular season to 18 games but commissioner Roger Goodell indicated Monday that nothing is imminent and the league will be very deliberate in making that decision.

In his annual state-of-the-NFL news conference, Goodell said he has had informal conversations on the topic with Lloyd Howell Jr., executive director of the NFL Players Assn., but there’s “a lot of work to be done.”

Before the 2021 season, the league added a 17th game and trimmed the preseason from four games to three. Goodell raised the possibility of eventually adding an 18th regular-season game and going down to two preseason games.

“We know fans love football and they want more football,” he said. “But we have to be incredibly sensitive and smart with the balance and how we deal with that.”

Goodell also kept alive the notion of having a franchise beyond the U.S. borders.

“I do think there’s a potential that someday we’ll have an international franchise,” he said. “We do like to have, being here in New Orleans, this is a great thing for the New Orleans Saints … have the world’s attention. I think the same would be true of an international franchise.”