LONDON (AP) – Roger Goodell wants to lengthen the 16-game regular season. The NFL commissioner knows it won’t happen for a while.

Goodell told a sports conference Friday that an expanded regular season would improve the overall quality of the league and increase fan interest. It can’t happen before the 2010 season and would depend on negotiations with media partners and the players’ union.

“We think that’s better content, it’s higher quality,” Goodell said, noting the preseason would be shortened. “That’s what our partners, our fans are going to demand.”

The NFL discussed adding one or two more games to the regular season at its owners’ meetings this month, but no decision was made.

“But from a quality standpoint, we believe it’s one alternative to improve the quality of our game,” he said, adding that the four-game preseason – five games for the teams that participate in the Hall of Fame game – has little entertainment value for fans. “It’s clear that our four preseason games are not high-quality content. They’re just not at the same level our regular-season games are. They don’t have the consequences.”

Goodell also said broadcasters already are seeing a drop in advertising revenue for NFL games because of the global economic crisis, but reiterated his belief the league can weather the downturn.

The commissioner was speaking during a panel discussion with Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the English Premier League, held in conjunction with Sunday’s game between the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints at Wembley Stadium.

Addressing the current financial crisis, Goodell said the NFL is “incredibly strong” and in a good position to escape unharmed from the turmoil in the markets. However, he said network partners are reporting that advertisers are pulling back, both on a local and national level.

“The sales market is different than it was even several weeks ago,” Goodell said. “We see it primarily on a local level, which I think is through a large extent a reflection of what is happening in the automobile industry. But it has now in the recent weeks gone to the national level. It’s had an impact. The fortunate thing is that it hasn’t had an impact on our viewership.”

The commissioner said he was confident ad sales for the games would stabilize even in the short term, adding that holding onto sponsors would be a bigger long-term problem for the league.

“That’s something we are evaluating, whether there will be a long-term change in the way companies invest in sponsorships, and how they do that,” he said. “And that could impact us well beyond 2009.”

In a separate interview with ESPN Radio, Goodell left open the possibility that suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones could play again in the NFL. Goodell made it clear the oft-troubled player must first work through his off-field issues; Jones currently is serving a four-game suspension.

“I’ve been consistent on this one. He has to recognize his responsibility to play in the NFL,” Goodell said, adding that Jones has “not made good decisions.”

“I think after this latest incident it was clear to me there was something else going on that we need to evaluate and we need to address directly,” he said.

Only six weeks after being reinstated from a 17-month suspension because of repeated legal problems, Jones ran into trouble again when he was involved in an alcohol-related scuffle Oct. 7 with one of his bodyguards at a private party in Dallas.

AP-ES-10-24-08 1715EDT