John Clayton: 18-game season off the table.

[AbeBeta]

I wish they would add a couple of more playoff teams/games instead of the 18 game season.

you don't want to do too much of that -- the NFL is pretty much the only league where the regular season is meaningful and watchable. Baseball doesn't overdo it with wild cards but 162 games is boring and never ending. The NBA and NHL pretty much suck until the playoffs come around -- the NFL has a great balance - that is one thing that shouldn't be messed with.

 

[cowboys#1]

why are you against it?

makes two more games that count. more football the better. i hate 4 preseason games.

what so bad about that?????

don't tell me injuries because injuries happen every game.

 

[cowboys#1]

you don't want to do too much of that -- the NFL is pretty much the only league where the regular season is meaningful and watchable. Baseball doesn't overdo it with wild cards but 162 games is boring and never ending. The NBA and NHL pretty much suck until the playoffs come around -- the NFL has a great balance - that is one thing that shouldn't be messed with.

im sure if they add 2 more games you will still watch and wont care after a couple of years.

 

[AbeBeta]

im sure if they add 2 more games you will still watch and wont care after a couple of years.

Yeah, I want to spend time watching "playoffs" featuring sub 500 teams.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Good. I hope that's true. Never wanted 18 in the first place.

 

[cowboys#1]

Yeah, I want to spend time watching "playoffs" featuring sub 500 teams.

what a dumb argument considering the 6th seed packers won the super bowl

 

[Frozen700]

That is not true. There will be 18 games, maybe not this season but by 2012. That is one of the Commissioner's goal.
18 games will be great

i agree everyone saying "No" too it...like they are the one's playing....are the same one's who will sit around during the off season moaning that they want more football

 

[DallasEast]

what a dumb argument considering the 6th seed packers won the super bowl

You may be confusing the Green Bay Packers with the Seattle Seahawks.

 

[dbair1967]

why are you against it?

makes two more games that count. more football the better. i hate 4 preseason games.

what so bad about that?????

don't tell me injuries because injuries happen every game.

More games= more reps= more likely to have injuries.

I prefer quality over quantity, and the fact is the quality of the product has deteriorated for years, and moving to an 18 game scheluke will only erode the product on the field further.

Not only will 2 more games per yr likely increase the injuries, but it will also likely decrease the length of players' careers, especially at certain positions.

 

[Rogah]

I always thought the 18 game season was a bargaining chip for the owners that they would eventually "give back" as a concession. Still think their main interest is getting a bigger slice of the revenue pie. Having an 18 game season runs counter to that because of the potential need to expand roster sizes.

I actually think it is the other way around. It's something the players' union plans to give in and accept but they're just trying to get the most they can in return.

The expanded rosters won't cost the owners anything. Once they figure out that X% of revenue goes to the players, it won't matter if every team has 47, 55 or 63 players on the roster.

 

[Rogah]

Problem is I don't think it would be an extra 2 weeks of money - the same $9B in revenue would have to be stretched across another two weeks, and the players probably wanted more jobs in return, effectively giving owners less of the pie.

Except it's not the same $9 billion in revenue. The whole point of expanding to 18 games is 3 additional weeks of TV weekends would be worth about $1 billion in added revenue.

And no, I didn't make a math mistake. Right now they play 16 games in 17 weeks but the new format will have 18 games in 20 weeks. So there will be 3 added weeks of NFL games even though it's only 2 games.

 

[Rogah]

This would work - they could make the games interconference games played at a neutral site, such as Los Angeles, which would give the league the benefit of a new market without teams getting an extra home game or losing one.

Having 16 neutral site games per year every year would get really old really fast. There's really only a finite number of cities where it would make sense for teams to play. The 17 game season just isn't on the table.

LA couldn't even sell out regularly when they had their own team. Why would they attend in droves to watch 2 teams they just don't care about play?

 

[Rogah]

The biggest issue I have with the "enhanced" season is that it will further render divisional play as meaningless. Right now, divisional play is worth only 38% of the schedule. Expand the season by 2 games, which aren't going to be divisional games, and it will only be a third of the schedule. You could conceivably lose all 6 divisional games, and still win the division. That makes no sense. This year, the Raiders won all 6 divisonal games, and didn't make the playoffs. It would be worse with more games.

I see people throwing out ridiculous hypotheticals about what "could" happen in an 18 game season, when the same ridiculous hypotheticals already could theoretically happen - but chances are we'll never see them in our lifetimes.

If a team loses all 6 divisional games but somehow manages to have the best record in the division, then they won that division fair and square so I don't even see what the problem is. And if a team, like the Raiders, wins all 6 division games but stinks it up against everyone else, they don't deserve to win the division.

 

[Miller]

why are you against it?

makes two more games that count. more football the better. i hate 4 preseason games.

what so bad about that?????

don't tell me injuries because injuries happen every game.

The difference is they don't play full presaeson games and they are scrub games.

Right now team are playing scrubs and backups by Week 14. EVERY player out there says they are barely getting by Week 13 or so. Their bodies are breaking down. So you want to add 2 more games where guys like Manning, Brady and othes are out due to the wear and tear of the season? An 18 game season is a money grabbing joke. There is a reason why a massive majority of players are calling owners out on this. Emmitt used to say that every hit was like a car crash. These guys have life expectancies of 5-10 years less than the rest of us and their careers are 2-3 years average. So 18 games is pure greed.

The owners and commish are a joke. More plays and more games equals more injuries due to fatigue. Then they won't new rules on concussions.

 

[cowboys#1]

The difference is they don't play full presaeson games and they are scrub games.

Right now team are playing scrubs and backups by Week 14. EVERY player out there says they are barely getting by Week 13 or so. Their bodies are breaking down. So you want to add 2 more games where guys like Manning, Brady and othes are out due to the wear and tear of the season? An 18 game season is a money grabbing joke. There is a reason why a massive majority of players are calling owners out on this. Emmitt used to say that every hit was like a car crash. These guys have life expectancies of 5-10 years less than the rest of us and their careers are 2-3 years average. So 18 games is pure greed.

The owners and commish are a joke. More plays and more games equals more injuries due to fatigue. Then they won't new rules on concussions.

so if they add 2 more games the percentages wont change just they will be playing scrubs at week 16 of 18 now.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

Clayton is partially right, 18 game schedule is not happening........ in 2011.

It will happen, the biggest hangup now, is roster sizes, training camp and off-season workouts, and bonuses. There are other issues, but these are the ones dealing with the 18 game schedule.

 

[theogt]

Clayton is partially right, 18 game schedule is not happening........ in 2011.

It will happen, the biggest hangup now, is roster sizes, training camp and off-season workouts, and bonuses. There are other issues, but these are the ones dealing with the 18 game schedule.

Probably won't happen in the next five years if a new CBA is done.

 

[dogberry]

Where will the money come from if not from an expanded schedule?

 

[Idgit]

The difference is they don't play full presaeson games and they are scrub games.

Right now team are playing scrubs and backups by Week 14. EVERY player out there says they are barely getting by Week 13 or so. Their bodies are breaking down. So you want to add 2 more games where guys like Manning, Brady and othes are out due to the wear and tear of the season? An 18 game season is a money grabbing joke. There is a reason why a massive majority of players are calling owners out on this. Emmitt used to say that every hit was like a car crash. These guys have life expectancies of 5-10 years less than the rest of us and their careers are 2-3 years average. So 18 games is pure greed.

The owners and commish are a joke. More plays and more games equals more injuries due to fatigue. Then they won't new rules on concussions.

As I always say when these arguments are brought up: I'd be a lot more convinced if, to a man, teams didn't kick it up a notch in the playoffs each season. The argument that they're worn out after 17 weeks is a really weak one. Add in expanded rosters big enough for teams to develop talent they currently can't spend the time getting NFL ready, and there's zero reason to believe the league can't support an 18 game regular season.

There's nothing at all wrong with making more money if there's a demand for your content. I think it's weird that football fans largely oppose the expanded schedule. I'd watch inter-squad scrimmages if they aired them.

 

[Doomsday101]

According to John Clayton on Dari and Mel today, the 18-game regular season is pretty much off the table at CBA negotiations.

So rejoice, I guess...I hope he's right.

I hope your right but even if it is off the table for now I think this issue will come up again in the future.