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18-game NFL schedule?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Football_Bat, Aug 27, 2008.

  1. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Maybe they should just let all 53 players on the roster be active for each game, rather than just the 45 or 46 that they have to keep activated.
     
  2. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    I HATE the idea of 18 regular season games. Let that go out the way the USFL did.

    But I also hate having more than two preseason games. It ain't NFL football and they're trying to get Joe Fan to pay NFL football prices for it. Bullshit, I say.
     
  3. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Part of the reason they probably won't add two more regular season games is that they are charging full price for preseason games (and selling out in many cases because you have to buy the PS games as part of a season ticket package) while the players are getting training camp money -- pocket change for them and the owners -- rather than full game checks. You think maybe teams are raking in tons of cash from that?
     
  4. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    This needs to get done. Negotiate the raises in pay - make it 18 game checks for the players instead of 16 - for the players and make all 53 players active for each game.

    If the players are going to play and the owners are going to make the fans pay for the "preseason" games in their season-ticket packages, they might as well make the games count.

    The schedule formula wouldn't be a difficult adjustment.

    Division foes twice each = 6
    Face two other complete divisions = 8
    One division in opposing conference = 4
    The only major difference is a team wouldn't face one other division in its same conference. But the formula would still mean you would everyone two years out of three - discounting possible playoff matchups.

    That's 18.
     
  5. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    This is assuming there isn't a labor issue in 2011, of course. It'll be interesting how the successor to Upshaw (RIP) acts vis-a-vis the owners.
     
  6. Brooklyn Bridge

    Brooklyn Bridge Well-Known Member

    Maybe true but if the preseason is changed a bit to extend the regular season, that means more TV money,which I think would chump anything they are paying the players. And you might just get more butts in the seats. Do preseason games sell out? I would think 40-50 THousand, but I could be wrong.
     
  7. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    A lot of times those empty seats at PS games are sold, but season ticket holders don't bother coming.

    You are right that the TV deals would obviously have to be renegotiated, and how much the networks would pay for two extra games would be a factor. Would it balance added salaries and insurance costs amd the revenue already been taken in during the PS? Not sure.
     
  8. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Remember when Bryant Gumbel called Gene Upshaw the lapdog for Paul Tagliabue? I wonder if the owners can find someone who, while he supposedly represents the players, looks more as if he's protecting the owners' interests.

    This could be the turning point in any possibility of both cutting preseason games and correspondingly increasing the number of regular-season games.

    If the TV deal were tweaked, this could be a win-win proposition. But I have my doubts the owners will agree to it.
     
  9. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    Ted Saskin and Alan Eagleson are available, I hear.
     
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