Roger Goodell has been discussing the 18-game NFL season for a few years, suggesting that this is the direction the league will eventually take. After transitioning to an unbalanced 17-game season, many believed the league would stay there for several years. However, additional games lead to increased revenue for the owners, and ultimately, they will achieve their goal, sooner that later, player well being be damned! With the subject coming back up yet again last week, I then asked:
With the possibility of an 18-game season seeming more likely and even inching toward being more likely than not, do you believe there is a chance that the owners do not get their way this time, despite that usually/almost always being how it goes? Moreover, if and when this happens, assuming that it does happen, what do you think the players should ask for/demand in return from the owners, and what do you think the owners will ultimately concede to make more money for themselves?
Below are some of your thoughts and answers-
RobNJ65 is mainly concerned with the stupidity that is the Thursday night game.
No Thursday night games LOL
MIAMI235 also believes that it will happen. Regarding raising the cap, I think they will follow the same approach as when they transitioned from 16 to 17 games. The team’s cap was not adjusted, but the base salary for players was increased, and players who signed a deal before Feb 2020 received a 1/17th pay bump if they were on the roster for the 17th game. Within a season, the cap will self-adjust itself to reflect the additional revenue gained from the extra game.
You’re probably right that this will happen; it’s just a matter of time. Fair option, could be to raise the salary cap by 1/18 in order to compensate players accordingly.
tvegas897, like many of us, sees the issues arising as they pertain to player safety.
Wish the NFL had a clue. Player safety my arse. Restore some rules that make football a real contact sport again and forget the silly game expansion. It’s a joke
Dolfanjoe wants bigger rosters if/when it happens, but sees the game being watered down.
Got to make another dollar ! TV time is money time ! 2 preseason practice games, 18 regular games. 56 man regular roster. 22 0n the practice squad. Cut back on some of the practice time. Be able to protect more players on the practice squads. Third emergency QB not counting against the weekly roster. Of course the salary cap will go up quite a bit. Everyone will make more of the Holy Dollar ! And of course the game will end up being watered down even more. Yea i think its inevitable !
sdphinsfan says it’s coming, so expand the rosters and add a bye week to go along with more cap space.
Guys, this is going to happen. When all you had was the broadcast outlets and ESPN, it was easy to manage the game inventory. But now you have the streaming outlets, who have shown they can handle the games and produce ratings. You can’t double the number of customers and not increase the inventory.
An 18 game schedule is easy to do if you do three other things to go along with it.
1. Expand the active roster to 60.
2. Increase the cap more aggressively
3. Add a 2nd bye week
Sports is the only thing on TV that consistently produces ratings. And no sport produces ratings like the NFL. And you’ve got the 2 to 3 weeks of dead time from the SB to the start of March Madness. The NFL wants to monetize that time of year.
When scenarios come around that adds significantly more money for owners and players, it happens…and this will too.
SlayerNation1 says this was going on all along, and the focus on player safety was just a distraction to get us all to look the other way.
Yes and I am sure it was the plan from the start: add 17 for a few seasons and then go to 18. An uneven number is odd (pun intended) and only helps Vegas set over/unders easily.
I also believe the disingenuous player safety concerns are a sleight of hand to lull you to sleep while they add games. e.g. the hokey kickoff, guardian cap, blaming tush push on safety, etc.
Like anything in life, follow the money. They will still play unsafe Thursday games.
Speaking of money, expect 8 teams in the playoffs to shortly follow. I could see going to No Bye week for the playoffs, just HFA.
The Players will want money and another Bye Week.
Anyway, I was perfectly fine with the undiluted 16 games, 1 Bye Week.
NFL is an entertainment product. Rule #1 is “always leave them wanting more” not to be confused with “giving the audience more”.
More, poorly played games with understudies, is unattractive.
The NFL had the formula at 16 games: 7 months of buildup, 1 week in between games, the entire season is intertwined with major American Holidays of Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.
Always ask yourself: “should I go ahead and fix this great item that isn’t broken?”
The NFL always picks at it, more International games, poorly played quality Thursday games, Holiday games on 4 different pay apps. The siren song of more money is too strong. How much money do they need?
Thomas23059 knows that it’s all about the money!
It is more money for the owners and players, so yes it will likely happen. It means more ticket revenue, more concession sales, and, assuming they add a second bye, two more weeks on the regular season TV contracts.
Just like in free agency, they players will talk a good game about everything else that matters, but in the end, they will take the money.
Francesco ITA believes that it will make those final games even more worthless.
and more and more meaningless games at the end of the season ….
dedstrk316 is another on board with the expanded rosters.
If they do this, they should expand the gameday rosters substantially
Funny how a few months can change things. The last time I raised this issue, many comments suggested that this wouldn’t happen. I was unsure myself, although I believed that it would most likely happen if there was enough money to be made. I think we have all come to the conclusion that the “player safety” aspect is just a way to silence the critics because they were always going to stretch this out as far as they could to continue finding new ways to line their fat pockets. Such is the way of the world!
Thank you to each and every one of you who consistently takes the time to respond to our question of the day. Having a longer season will have one benefit for me. It will make it much easier for me to come up with questions for a longer period of time.
