Commissioner Goodell Wants 17 To 18 Regular Season Games

[Ozzsome]

I think it has a good side we have more football games to watch in a season but on the other hand i think football is the sport that wants the most of your body and the players will be very tired in the playoffs and maybe there are also more injuries then

What do you think?

[Twoo]

My biggest problem with the 18 game season is players are paid to play 16 regular season games. That's it. If the NFL wants to make it a 17-18 game season then the players are going to band together and request their salary be raised for each year of their contract. And the team owners will not go for this....

[Corvus]

The loss of up to two preseason games really hurts teams in the sense that they may not know what they have on their roster. The first preseason game or two are usually used partially as "tune up" games for starters to get them ready for the regular season, while the others are usually used to see what kind of talent is behind the starters, what kind of young guys they have on the team, and who will make final cuts to the 53 man roster. With only two potential preseason games, you lose a lot of that evaluation and playing time to do said evaluation.

Obviously, we as fans would love to see 17 or 18 regular season games. Its real games and more excitement. But you also have to keep in mind the wear and tear on the players over the season. In 16 games last year, we wound up with something like 18 guys on IR. Imagine the beating two more real games are gonna have on players all over the league.

I could see maybe 17 regular season games and 3 preseason, but I think 18 is really pushing it for the most physical sport on the biggest level.

EDIT: Good point Twoo, I wasn't even thinking about pay for the players...

[WACKO4FLACC0]

From what I hear the NFL is discussing on whether to keep the 4 pre-season games and 16 regular season games or to have only [b]2 pre-season games and 18 regular season games[/b].

I like the idea of more meaningful football games and I have to admit only watch bits and pieces of the pre-season unless there is a player I am extremely interested in how he will do.

But on the other hand you will not be able to look at each player as much as you would with 2 extra pre-season games..... another concern for me is how would the records work out????? If you have an extra

2 games to break a _______ in a single season record then that is unfair to those before you. Also this means longer seasons to be played for starters which leads to more injuries, etc etc.

What do you guys think???????????

(oops didnt see your thread sry bout that)

[Moderator 3]

Sorry gang, technical issue when I tried to merge the two threads. Somehow we ended up losing most of the posts. This is the first time it's happened, but we'll try to get someone to look into it.

[SUPERBOWLorBUST]

It would definately have an upside....but also the negatives. i think they've all been pointed out. I guess though that if this happened, it would be out of the division games??? it could be interesting though. more of a chance for some teams who are close to winning a division title at the end of the season.

[Lets_Go_Joe]

They get paid to play in the NFL, period. If the coach made them play all four pre-season games the whole 4 quarters, they would have to... So I don't see that argument. Fact is pre-season games rob us of all kinds of money. They have a lesser product on the field yet we still have to pay full price for tickets. I think pre-season games are a waste because more often then not, teams know who they want and who they don't bye the end of the second game. Could it hurt guys like Flacco and Ryan in the future, sure... But if they play both preseason games, they shouldn't be any farther behind than what Joe was this year.

I think its a good idea because it gives the fans more value for their buck, and also allows teams to go through ups and downs more without killing them for losing a few games because of injuries. Injuries happen in 16 games, and they'll happen in 18 games for sure, but the league has increased the number of games before, so whats the big deal this time. I have heard from many players they would rather have more regular season games as opposed to more pre season games because of the risk of injury. If a practice squad type kind of guy gets hurt in pre season, he is cut and out of his money.

There is multiple issues with both sides, but from a fan's perspective I want more real games and less meaningless ones.

[Black&Purple]

My intake on the situation is neutral, I see the fan perspective and would LOVE to see more regular season games, and a longer season (In a sense... ). However, there is the other side of potential injuries, which concerns me. I want the playoffs to be the best teams winning, not the healthiest teams, also teams NEED those 4 pre-season games to figure their rosters out. Some teams don't, but like this season we needed the pre-season games to not only figure out our roster, but to find out our QB for this season. You need at LEAST 3 games to figure out which QB is a starter if there are 3 competing, but a 4th is ideal. (We all know how the cards fell with Troy, Kyle, and Flacco, but prior to all of that we needed those 4 games...)

[Devastat1on]

I like the idea of 18 regular season games.. Id rather watch 2 extra regular season Ravens games as opposed to 2 preseason Ravens games.. I understand the preseason games are needed, and i do think 2 preseason games arent enough, but i think 3 is the perfect number.. 3 preseason and 18 regular season games and im happy.. But if there were to be 3 preseason games, there would probably be only 17 games, not 18..

[JO_75]

I agree with what most people have said. I would love the idea of an extended regular season. I agree that they should cut the pre season down. Black&Purple is right, you need at MOST 3 games to determine your final roster for the regular season. So that to me, equals out to a 17 game regular season. Now of course, do you get 8 Road games and 9 Home games or vice versa. How will the bye weeks work, do you back load the season with the extra game, extend the end of the regular or start the season a week earlier. Here's what I'm thinking:

9 Road/8 Home Games, 9 Home/8 Road: This is the easy part. 17 games, we can still have 8 Home and 8 Road games. That 17th game, well lets call that the "Neutral Game." You can still have the scheduling format the way it is now but with a 17th game, the league looks at everybodys schedule and gives them an opponent to play thats not on the schedule already. (EX. Based off Ravens 2009 Schedule, if a 17 game season was in place, say the leagues gives them the Falcons) The teams will play on a neutral site once a year. I don't mean going to another NFL stadium, lets have that neutral game played at College Stadiums. That college stadium must be in a location that meets in the middle for both teams. (Ravens play the Falcons say at NC State) If your chosen to go to London that year, well that's your neutral site game for the year.

Bye Weeks: Currently the bye weeks start in Week 3 and go through Week 11 or 12(someone help me with that, is it 11 or 12?) To me even with a 16 game schedule, week 3 is too early for a bye week. With a 17 game season, I say start at Week 5 and extend it to Week 13 or 14 but give each team two bye weeks. Of course this goes back to my Neutral game rule, you have the regular team bye, and you have a second bye to give teams rest after their neutral site game.

Begin Season earlier or Extend the End: Well its obvious, start the season earlier. You remove the last pre-season game and begin a week early. This goes back to the bye week(everything ties together) with an extra bye week there will be no need to move the Super Bowl back, you could keep it in the same place. It don't make no sense to extend the post season longer than it should. I took that part from what I heard that the SB would be pushed back a week or two. That's what I'm thinking, it took me longer than I thought and I'm sorry this is a little long but that's what I think needs to be done.

P.S. You would have to expand the number of players a team can have on their roster, right now its 53 or something so maybe extend it to 60 to cover for injuries and the longer season.

[McBoller]

how long has it been 16 games, 30+ years?

[Wacko4Zacko]

Yay....Thats great now a team can go 18-0...But what team?

[jfc13]

So, IF there were two more games added to the schedule, what teams should play what teams?
[I had planned to ask this question when I started reading this thread and then I saw that JO_75 addressed it somewhat, but I'm still asking.]
As we know, a team plays the other teams in their division twice, and every team in the same division plays every team in another division in their conference and every team in another division in the opposing conference. Then, within their division, they play the two teams in their conference that they aren't already scheduled to play with the same season-ending ranking from the previous year.

My thought is that the additional games should be from the opposing conference and the teams should play one or two [depending on how many additional games there are] of the teams with the same season-ending ranking, on a rotating basis [but not from the division they are already playing. In other words, just like the two games that you play within your conference that the others in your division aren't playing.

Was that confusing?

[Marc2k6]

[quote name='Ray The Day' post='172789' date='Mar 25 2009, 05:15 PM']I think it has a good side we have more football games to watch in a season but on the other hand i think football is the sport that wants the most of your body and the players will be very tired in the playoffs and maybe there are also more injuries then

What do you think?[/quote]
My selfish side says yes to more football because NFL football is my favorite sport. But on the other hand 2 more games may be to much, some teams are having problems making it through the season as it is now. Look at all of the injuries we had last season and the season before, now we may have to play 2 more regular season games. Look at the Denver Bronco's last season, they lost how many running backs, I think the coach had to suit up for at least 1 game at RB. Just imagine last season with 2 more games!

As far as the pre-season goes, how many people go to a pre-season game and expect to see a really good game? Pre-season is nothing more than dress rehearsal/try-outs for the regular season. This is the time to see what rookies and veteran players you are going to keep on your team and installation of play packages, that is it. It does not give a poor showing of the NFL experience, everyone knows what the objective is in pre-season.

Plus if we do add 2 games to the regular season and cut the pre-season to 2 games, you can expect a increase in your ticket price. You may think that there is not a difference in the amount of game because the NFL is just taking 2 games away from the pre-season and adding them to the regular season but there is a big difference in the pay player's receive for regular season games. I'm sure that will fall in the wallet of the fan's. So if you want more I'm sure it will cost more. I say if it aint broke do not try to fix it!

[#23]

I feel that the biggest problem with the 18game schedule proposal is injuries. This is 2 more games a year a player has to strap on his helmet and pads and put his life on the line. Think about it, Ray may actually be retired right now if he had to play 18games throughout his whole career. 18 games will definitly limit the amount of years a player can play in the NFL which will also produce more turn-over in players, which means, you may not have Ray playing 13+ seasons in the same city(which is rare right now anyway). This will give the fans less recognizable players on their team.

but another way to look at it, and I think this may be the main reason for the change to 18 games is that it will help out economically. The NFL makes a crazy amount of money from TV deals etc. Having more games in a season, will be more profitable then a 16 game season. If it wasnt going to make more money, the NFL simply wouldnt be doing it.

I also saw some concern for the schedule and how it will be generated... Will the Super Bowl get pushed back another week until the middle of Feb? or are we going to start the season earlier due to the fact that there is 2 less pre-season games? A lot of questions need to be answered before this proposal will be agreed upon.

[Nevermore52]

I think if you were to ask a lot of veteran players, they would say the preseason is too long and only two preseason games are really necessary. As far as the injury front, they could easily bump team roster limits two or four players to make up for the grind. I think players would love the chance to get two more games worth of meaningful chances. I bet this proposal passes and becomes effective in a couple years. The owners want it, the commish wants it and I bet the players would be at least not dead set against it.

[bigZ2222]

im for i hate preseason and would love to see more ravens games. although taxing last year was awesome what was it 18 strait games with no bye

[SUPERBOWLorBUST]

I heard a good debate about this on the radio today. question being, would it cause guys to take supplements to get more energy towards the end of the season?

[Nevermore52]

[quote name='SUPERBOWLorBUST' post='172948' date='Mar 26 2009, 10:19 AM']I heard a good debate about this on the radio today. question being, would it cause guys to take supplements to get more energy towards the end of the season?[/quote]

Supplements are fine, steroids are not. The NFL isn't baseball, there is plenty of random testing in place to find people who break the rules.

[#23]

[quote name='Nevermore52' post='172955' date='Mar 26 2009, 10:33 AM']Supplements are fine, steroids are not. The NFL isn't baseball, there is plenty of random testing in place to find people who break the rules.[/quote]



i dont believe supplements are fine at all. And baseball has just as much drug testing as football. Amphetamines(stimulant) are illegal in football and baseball because they in a way, are performance enhancing supplements. Do u know how many cases there are of players using coke and pot before games, because they are performance enhancing. They grew up, learned the sport, high on these drugs which has allowed tthe drug to act as a performance enhancer, and without it, they will not be in their "zone". Also supplements are as used to mask steroid use, such as that whole situation with the Saints last season with the water pills(used to mask steroid use)

also here's a little something on NFL Amphetamine's testing...

"The National Football League has decided to up the classification for amphetamines from a harmful drug, like cocaine and marijuana, to a performance enhancing drug, like steroids. Use of amphetamines won't earn a player a suspension until 2007, but scrutiny will begin during 2006."

[url="http://hou.scout.com/2/543180.html"]http://hou.scout.com/2/543180.html[/url]

[markorad]

sounds good, just do away with most preseason games though that more than likely will kill playing time for those rookies or players low on the depth chart who needed the opportunity to shine

[ItFigurs16]

IMO I would love to see more games and all of that but like someone mentioned earlier, how will the extended season affect the playoffs? Will it be the healthiest team wins? Or would it be that teams who have a record of lets say 15-0 don't really try for the last 3 games in an attempt to stay healthy. Yes these games will count, but they could be played like a pre-season game where the second/third string guys are put in to keep the first stringers healthy. Not saying this is a bad thing but I think fans would get disapointed after a few years of their team dominating the forst 14 to 15 games then straightup looseing the last 3-4.

[Ravens549]

Has anyone been hearing anything else on this?
Perhaps eliminating 2 pre-season games and adding 2 regular?

I have been complaining about this for years. 20% of my ticket cost goes to pre-season! Plus, parking and everything else it entails.

I hope this happens!!!

[FerrariFan87]

[quote name='Ravens549' post='172991' date='Mar 26 2009, 11:49 AM']Has anyone been hearing anything else on this?
Perhaps eliminating 2 pre-season games and adding 2 regular?

I have been complaining about this for years. 20% of my ticket cost goes to pre-season! Plus, parking and everything else it entails.

I hope this happens!!! [/quote]

Would be nice, but then we are going to need new record books to account for that....

[Shawn`]

[url="http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80f717a9&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true"]Official NFL article[/url]

[i]Goodell hopes to present a proposal to the owners in May after the matter was discussed at length this week at the NFL Annual Meeting.[/i]

[i]Among the issues that team owners must discuss is when the regular season would begin; how many bye weeks would be scheduled, how deep into February the playoffs and Super Bowl would go, and when the offseason programs -- including the combine and the draft -- would be held.[/i]

So, the fans have been talking about this for a while and our prayers have been answered. Right now Goodell is proposing 17 games, but there are concerns about an odd number. Like one conference play 9 home games and the other play 9 the year after that.

But I think it would be alot easier to just extend it to 18.

Thoughts?

[MadBacker57]

im all for the 18 game schedule but i wonder how it will affect some of the vets that you can tell are out of gas with the schedule now and can they handle 18 games but that is why their are back ups

[MKdave]

I think if they're making the season longer, they have to make the rosters bigger. There'll be more injuries, more fatigue and most probably more dead rubbers pre-playoff games. All of which mean more players will be in the active rotation. I don't think changing the rosters from 53 players to say 60 is really that big a deal, but is necessary to facillitate the extra games.

[SUPERBOWLorBUST]

this is already a topic

[Adam Jones]

With 17 or 18 games Detroit has to win one now......

[RedFire]

i'm down with 18games...maybe back-up QB's will be used more.
i want it to be a true team game where u need every player...and i think 18games will force coaches to use their benches and make team depth important at more positions of the game.