The Haphazard Blog

This week it was reported that the NFL and NFLPA were going to discuss the idea of expanding the regular season from 16 to 18 games and dropping 2 pre-season games. Some players have come out against the idea of playing two more games given the added risk for injury and potential consequences of their long term health.

I wonder if that is such a big concern, why aren’t they pushing for a shorter season? I assume it is posturing to ensure that they get more money for the added games. They don’t want to play two more games for the same salaries. The NFL wouldn’t be trying to add these games if they didn’t feel that it would result in a significant increase in revenue. I’d assume their TV contracts would grow at least 12.5%, their ticket revenue would increase somewhat to fill up empty seats along with the accompanying game day sales. I’d expect NFL Sunday Ticket to cost more as well.

From my perspective, more games water down the game. It’s more games where a team could potentially rest. I also agree the risk of injury goes up, but there really is no telling when it will happen. Tom Brady’s season was over halfway through the 1st quarter of the 1st game (he didn’t play in any pre-season games) and Wes Welker’s season ended in the last game of the year (played 1 pre-season game).

I’d like to see a 17 game regular season and 3 game pre-season. My idea is to keep the current rotating schedule for 16 of the games. The 17th game can be scheduled by the NFL to create matchups that fans really want to see. For example, if the Colts and Patriots aren’t meeting, the NFL can assure that match-up happens with the 17th game. The 17th game should be played at a neutral site. This prevents any issues with home/away discrepancies.

Finally, the NFL decides that each game will have them paid with a “sanctioning fee” (like F1) in some type of clever/evil auction method to maximize payments. This ensures the NFL a guaranteed payment for each game. Cities all over the world can then go after a NFL game. The NFL would always maintain control over what cities could have a game. Cities would have to be pre-certified to host a game before they can bid. So in the spring, they would announce the schedule. They can begin the auction process after mini-camps end and make the announcements about where the games will be played during the NFL dead period in early July.