NFL’s New Contract Might Have New Look : Television: 18-week schedule, pay-per-view and Thursday night games could be factors.

NEW ORLEANS —  The NFL’s three-year, $1.43-billion television contract expires Monday.

Negotiations have already begun on a new deal, and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue hopes to have a proposal to present to the club owners when they meet in Orlando, Fla., in mid-March.

None of the principals in the negotiations have been willing to speak on the record this week, but several details have been learned:

--If the owners get what they want, it will be a three-year contract worth nearly $2.5 billion. Each team now earns $17 million from television. Beginning next season, owners are hoping to be in the $28-million range.

--One way the NFL is planning to increase its value to the networks is to play 16 games over 18 weeks. That would mean each team would have two byes during the season.

Teams would still play four exhibitions, but possibly over a shorter period of time.

The idea behind 16 games over 18 weeks is that the networks would get two more weeks of football, yet owners would not be obligated to compensate the players.

--It has previously been believed that pay-per-view and/or local pay-cable would not be part of this contract, but it has now been learned that a number of owners want to have the flexibility to explore those areas.

It might end up in a form as simple as, say, Ram exhibition games on SportsChannel.

Then again, some owners, aware of the growing pay-per-view possibilities, would like to be able to put a limited number of non-sold-out, regular-season home games on pay-per-view.

This might not happen next season, but possibly within the term of the contract.

--It has been reported that CBS is interested in taking “Monday Night Football” away from ABC, but the latest word is that CBS may be satisfied with merely retaining its strong Monday night lineup, which includes “Murphy Brown,” “Designing Women” and “Newhart.”

Meanwhile, Dennis Swanson, ABC Sports president, has said that reacquiring “Monday Night Football” is his department’s No. 1 priority.

--The Sunday night cable package is expected to be increased to include the full season instead of just the second half. However, insiders are saying there is no guarantee that ESPN will be able to keep the package.

Ted Turner is said to be interested in Sunday nights and is willing to pay.

It has been speculated that ESPN overextended itself with its $400-million bid to acquire baseball and might not have enough money in its coffers to pay for pro football again.

--Fox Television, shut out three years ago, is interested in a Thursday night package, as is HBO.

HBO’s problem is that the NFL doesn’t believe that HBO, which has 18 million subscribers, can offer enough exposure.

--Another aspect of the contract negotiations is what to do with the AFC package.

The NFC, which has teams in all of the top five markets--New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco--is also perceived as the stronger conference.

So, the NFC is considerably more attractive. CBS wants to keep it; NBC wants to wrest it away.

The NFL, a source said, is trying to work out the logistics to sell the AFC and NFC as one package, as is done in baseball. NBC and CBS would simply share the package.

In other words, a Ram road game could appear on either CBS or NBC, depending on the schedule.

One thing that appears certain is that the NFL won’t be offering any bargain prices.

The league, which can boast that it is No. 1 in popularity, can simply point to the huge increases for baseball and basketball, then say to television: “Now it’s our turn.”