Expect regular season to get longer, just not this year - NFL - CBSSports.com Football
This would be AWESOME!
This would be AWESOME!
NFL Season Likely to be Lengthened!
- Thread starter LeSchmick
- Start date
Ding ding ding! The NFL is great the way it is now. Adding more games is just going to water it down.
Terrible idea to lengthen it anymore than it already is.
If anything, they should move back to 14 games.
If anything, they should move back to 14 games.
4 preseason is WAY too many. They should just cut that down to 2 and leave the regular season the way it is.
The preseason is pretty pointless now. Back when players worked regular jobs during the offseason it was relevant as they needed to play some to get into game shape. Now they don't need to work that second job and with the offseason conditioning programs you don't really need all those preseason games. 2 games should be enough to evaluate players fighting for those last couple of roster spots.
This is the winning formula (and honestly I got along fine before the bye week).
This can't happen because players are contracted for 20 games. They get paid evenly throughout the preseason and the regular season. The players would obviously want to play less, but the owners have to pay them for 20, meaning they're playing 20 total no matter what.
Not a fan - the way they set up the schedules is perfect the way it is right now:
6 against division foes
4 against foes from a division in your conference
4 against foes from a division opposite your conference
2 against the other two foes from your conference that finished in the same place as you in their respective divisions.
There's your 16 games. How would you schedule those two extra games? Not enough for another "go-around" in your division, not enough to face another division in either conference. The only thing your really could do is face another set of opponents in another tier in the standings, but that could get really confusing, or face two random opponents, which flies in the face of the simplicity of the current NFL scheduling system. Adding one or two extra games just doesn't work.
6 against division foes
4 against foes from a division in your conference
4 against foes from a division opposite your conference
2 against the other two foes from your conference that finished in the same place as you in their respective divisions.
There's your 16 games. How would you schedule those two extra games? Not enough for another "go-around" in your division, not enough to face another division in either conference. The only thing your really could do is face another set of opponents in another tier in the standings, but that could get really confusing, or face two random opponents, which flies in the face of the simplicity of the current NFL scheduling system. Adding one or two extra games just doesn't work.
The NFL regular season is largely irrelevant as-is. Adding more games makes it even more so.
In a perfect world, I think they would play fewer regular season games and have more teams in the playoff, since the NFL playoffs are really what the NFL is all about in the first place.
In a perfect world, I think they would play fewer regular season games and have more teams in the playoff, since the NFL playoffs are really what the NFL is all about in the first place.
Having not read the article, I believe that this is what Goodell wants to happen anyway. Eliminate 2 pre-season games - which are way more of a cash grab, btw - and tack the other 2 onto the regular season. Calendar wise, the schedule stays the same.
If the regular season were irrelevant, why not just throw all 32 teams into a tournament starting in September and just be done with it? Because most fans would hate that idea more than an "irrelevant" regular season.
The regular season isn't irrelevant for three reasons:
1. It determines which 12 teams will vie for the championship
2. It makes money for the NFL.
3. While some fans think it might be too long right now, fans like the idea of blowing Sunday afternoons watching "irrelevant" games throughout the entire fall and the early parts of winter.
Maybe the last several weeks become irrelevant for some teams (largely those teams that are clearly not going to make the playoffs or those teams that have already solidified their position in the playoffs). But tell the 12 or so teams and their fans that were fighting for their playoff lives/for playoff position/to knock a team out of the playoffs, particularly the Philadelphia Eagles fans, that the regular season, and week 17 in particular, is irrelevant...
I love football and generally, more football is a good thing to me. I agree the current system is fine. It's been proven time and time again, this year included, the regular season is not irreverent at all. I continue to be amused when this "argument" comes up.
I am concerned of what 1 or two more regular season games will do though. I agree the preseason needs to be shortened but not sure the regular season needs to be extended.
But you can bet I'll watch those extra games.
I am concerned of what 1 or two more regular season games will do though. I agree the preseason needs to be shortened but not sure the regular season needs to be extended.
But you can bet I'll watch those extra games.