Owners must think of what is right for the game of football
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has strongly pushed for the idea to increae the regular season from 16 games to 18 games. Goodell said the idea is gaining momentum and owners are starting to support it but players are still divided on the idea.
At first glance, an 18-game season seems like a win-win situation for fans and owners. Owners would increase their revenue with more ticket sales and TV advertising that would come with more games. In the slow economy owners and Goodell see an enhanced schedule as a good opportunity to build on the game and their bank accounts. Fans crave NFL all year and being given two more weeks of regular season action looks good, at least on the surface.
But others aren't so sure about the idea. Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback Carson Palmer may have put it best: "With 16 games, every game is important, and therefore the fans are very into it, the stadiums are packed because they know if their team loses, it pushes them further and further away from making the playoffs," Palmer said. "I think if you go to 18, each game kind of loses a little bit of its significance."
In the NFL, less is more. There’s a good reason why it’s the most popular sport in the United States. With eight months separating the Super Bowl from the start of the regular season, every game feels special. That’s why more people watch the NFL than any other sport, they know it won’t be around long and they squeeze the most out of any experience they can get. In the NHL there are 82 regular season games. In the NBA there are 82 as well. In baseball, there are 162 games in a season. The NFL has only 16, meaning every game carries much more meaning than any other sport can dream of; that’s why the NFL’s special. If you increase that, where would it stop? The league has already increased the season from 12 to 14 to 16. Who’s to say that the owners wouldn’t push it up to 20, 22 or 24 in the future?
Another factor to take into account is extra compensation for players. The league is expecting the players to take a pay cut in the next collective bargaining agreement, but how can they take a pay cut if they’d have to play more regular season games. Goodell has argued that by eliminating two pre-season games, players would play the equal amount of games they play right now. However starters barely play in the preseason anyway, meaning that would just be more games would be played.
This would also lead to injury concerns. The NFL and Goodell have been preaching player safety but the bottom line is in such a physical sport, there will always be injuries. An enhanced schedule would increase the chances of that. If the league is concerned about player safety, they obviously aren’t as concerned as they are about making more money. An increased schedule would prove money is more important than safety according to the owners.
"This is a big issue for us," said George Atallah, assistant executive director for the NFL Players Association. "The players are not happy with it."
With the players taking enough of a beating with a 16 game schedule, how much shorter would their careers be with 18 games a year? NFL careers are short enough so there’s no need to wear out these athletes more than necessary. Just ask a long-time veteran of the league in linebacker Ray Lewis.
"Sixteen games are enough,'' Lewis said."I mean, you're talking to someone who has been in this business for 15 years. We're not automobiles. We're not machines. We're humans. Eighteen games, you got to ask yourself, how many people are truly healthy for 18 games, so will you get your true football, will you get your real football? I think if fans understood what we actually go through to play in December and January, I think a lot more people would fight with us that, I don't think it's knowledgeable to make us play 18 games. It's rough."
Owners cannot think about what will benefit them. They have to think for the long road ahead of what an increased schedule can do for the game. The ones that bring fans to the stadiums and to their TV sets every Sunday are not the owners, they’re the players. They’re the ones fans want to see and who fans want to see for a long time. Everyone wants to see the game’s greats for as long as we can. Fans want to see Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Ray Lewis, Ladanian Tomlinson, Drew Brees and many others play as many years as they can. With more games every year, you can do the math; careers will be shorter. The most important thing of all is what’s good for the game. Owners and fans must see the big picture and make sure that whatever is done is done in the best interest of the game.
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