The Proposed 18 Game NFL Schedule

The players realized they were giving up money they were not going to get back. It's not like baseball where careers are longer and players are around long enough to benefit from new CBA.

Essentially last NFL strike benefited future players and not those who struck.

 

As much as the unwashed public is destroying itself this year, Vegas
would like it if the NFL played a 46-week schedule.

 

This is how they should do it. Training camp still begins as it does right now essentially during the last week in July.

Give teams a few more practices before the first preseason game and encourage teams to have a scrimmage against another team.

The last Thursday in August is the opener. The first NFL Sunday is the day before Labor Day.

The byes start in Week 4 and two of the teams coming off the bye will play Thursday night football. This will occur every week through the Thanksgiving games. Obviously, with three games on Thanksgiving, those teams will not be able to be coming off a bye.

The regular season ends during the second week in January, one week later than it does now. Then playoffs, then Pro Bowl week, then the Super Bowl. Everything ends the second week in February.

 

But isn't one of their goals to extend the season longer into the calendar? Same number of games (pre and regular season) but a longer season? Or am I wrong?

 

I am fairly certain that you are wrong. The NFL wants to get rid of some of the preseason games because they can't sell them. That is how I've always heard this presented -- replacing two weeks of preseason games that the networks don't want with two weeks of regular-season games that the networks do want.

 

Players also weren't making quite as much money in 1987. They couldn't afford to miss too many paychecks.

I think the owners are also wanting the 18-game schedule to save money. The average career is something like 3.5 years. That's 56 games. An 18-game schedule would be a 3-year career, plus two games, which, you can figure, players will lose because they'll be more beat up. Owners would save on nearly half a year's salary on each player.

Even if the roster is expanded, the owners would save money.

 

Networks won't want them either if you end with a bunch of games with Charlie Batch and Gus Ferrotte.

 

Right now many retired players are speaking out against 18 game schedule. I bet their opinion changes if League throws a bigger pension their way.

 

You are assuming quite a few injuries for five or six more quarters of football (figure two preseason games are eliminated with starters playing two or three quarters of those.)

 

Two requirements on my end if you go to 18 games:
- Guaranteed contracts. At the very least, guaranteed deals for anyone with 3+ years in the league.
- Expand rosters. Currently it's 53, with 45 active. Bump it to 60, with 52 active.

 

No way the owners are going to agree to guaranteed contracts. Expanded rosters might make sense, though. The problem there is that the owners are going to want to divide the same amount of money among more players.

 

I like that. Two great ideas.