18 Game Season

[butta54 371]

***Not sure if this has been talked about already...if it has then feel free to destroy me and point me to the thread***

 

 

There has been some talk the last few years of cutting the pre-season to 2 games and increasing the regulard season to 18 games.

 

Now there are a number of pros and cons to this move and the hold up has been the player's association who generally believe more games would be dangerous. I don't know if I believe it will be more "dangerous", but it does bring some issues.

 

According to the NFL this is "for the fans" who deserve more football. Before I go into my opinion I would love to hear what you guys think about a longer season.

[GA_Eagle 595]

Good as is, IMO. It sounds awesome on the surface but part of the beauty of the NFL is it leaves you wanting more.

[Attyla the Hawk 197]

It's stupid.

 

And honestly, it's a sham that the NFL offices pull every single year. They reach the entirely incorrect conclusion when fans say, "We don't want to pay for 2 preseason games". Which is true. I hate paying for 10 sets of tickets, when only 8 games really matter.

 

We want at most 2 preseason games and 16 game schedule. Not more football. Less.

 

Honestly, who wants to see division winners sit their starters for two to three weeks instead of the customary one?

 

The reality will be, that adding two meaningful games puts stars in peril. It's not the first or second game. But the 17th and 18th game. When the body is already at it's weakest after a full season.

 

The end result will inevitably be one of three results:

 

1. Playoff teams play more worthless regular season games played by backups. Altering the integrity of the results for their opponents. And being a full price snoozefest for fans.

 

2. Playoff teams will play to win to the end of the year and will incur more injuries -- possibly to irreplaceable stars. Their playoff fortunes will be sacrificed by significant injury risk

 

3. Playoff teams will play to win to the end of the year and will luck out injury wise. Two more meaningful games to enjoy.

 

The risks to sacrificing postseason quality is far too great. There are going to be teams that miss out on playoff possibilities that otherwise would not have. Whether by injuries they suffer, or by rivals playing their tougher on paper matchups that your team played in an honest contest -- only to see your rivals play a team of second stringers.

 

The ultimate goal for fans is to pay for fewer inconsequential games. Adding 2 games to the regular season doesn't necessarily do that. In fact if you're a team whose stars get hurt in those last two games -- you REALLY get robbed of games that matter.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Attyla the Hawk

[seanbrock 1,684]

It's going to happen regardless of it's effect on the quality of the game or the health of the players because the NFL will profit off of it like crazy. Same with the league someday expanding to England or some other country. The NFL doesn't care about anything other than making money. They don't care about the game that we love. I'll always watch it, because I love football but it's disappointing for sure.

[butta54 371]

So I agree overall with the responses. We don't want more regular season games. And the NFL just like the NBA and MLB seemingly will never reduce games because more games = more money for them.

 

The selling point from the owners is that players will make more money of course because they are paid larger checks for regular season games vs. pre-season games. Now that is a valid positive. Another selling point is that coaches will have more training camp time. Instead of having players go through two scrimmage games they can use that time to evaluate the roster and perfect their schemes. This point, although debatable, is a valid one too.

 

Looking at the negative...I'm not convinced more training camp time and less live reps against other teams will give you a better evaluation. Granted your starters aren't really developing much during pre-season and could use more practice time. However, the large rosters that teams come into camp with need to be trimmed down. And essentially that is what these pre-season games are about. I believe you will miss out on even more potential players with less pre-season games. Practice can only tell you so much. You want the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th teams playing game reps to see what you have. As far as injuries I do believe it will add to an already so-so end of season quality of play, but that will happen no matter how many games you have. I firmly believe everytime you play you can get injured so no debating on if they should have been there or not. You can be injured in a pre-season game just as easily as a week 17 game.

 

Overall I ultimately think we need less games. It's not that fans want more football...we just want best quality football.