17-game NFL regular season?

[carolinatony]

per MSNBC SPORTS- NFL officials are considering adding a 17th regular season game to accommodate the league's desire to play overseas games, Commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday, although the idea is in the formative stages.

I don't like it but money talks.

 

[DaBruinz]

I can only see it if they reduce the length of pre-season to 3 games. One of the biggest complaints that coaches and players have is that the season is too long as it is.

 

[BionicPatriot]

Pay-per-view superbowl. Out of country superbowl, now this?

Good lord what ******s keep making these ideas?

 

[italian pat patriot]

personally i like the NFL as per today's 'format'

i hope it will not change to much

1 game per season outside US could be good but not more

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

I'm fine with an extra game and one less preseason game but enough with this overseas nonsense. They have their spots, we have ours. Soccer will never the big here, NFL will never be big there. Enough already.

 

[QuiGon]

per MSNBC SPORTS- NFL officials are considering adding a 17th regular season game to accommodate the league's desire to play overseas games, Commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday, although the idea is in the formative stages.

I don't like it but money talks.

I think expanding the season is a great idea, but 17 is a ridiculously awkward idea. They should make 2 preseason games and 18 regular. And is the 17-game plan to call for every team to play outside the US..? Just a month ago, the NFL said they didn't have the logistics to do a China Game and a London Game in the same season, but now they want to establish 16 overseas (or other "neutral site") games..?

Gimme a break. Just go to 18 games and allow 2 or 3 overseas games per season where one time has to bite the bullet and lose a home game.

 

[richpats]

I hope this idea goes no further than the "formative" stage. The NFL is getting out of hand with 'going global'. Games are meant to be played in a team's stadium with a team's fans. Adding an extra game just increases the chances of injury and exhausted players going into the playoffs (just what we need).

 

[jeffd]

Just a month ago, the NFL said they didn't have the logistics to do a China Game and a London Game in the same season, but now they want to establish 16 overseas (or other "neutral site") games..?

I think that was a nice way of saying that the team involved *****ed too much and they couldn't figure out how to keep them happy. If they piss off everyone then no-one can claim hardship.

 

[Isaac]

I'm a big proponent of the 17th game if they make it an inter-conference rivalry game. It's silly that natural rivals across conferences only play once every 4 years. Imagine if these were annual games--it'd be awesome.
Jets-Giants
Steelers-Eagles
Raiders-49ers
Skins-Ravens
Dallas-Houston
...

Most teams in the league could come up with a natural inter-conference rival based on geography--the Patriots are among the few teams without anything close. But if those few teams could just live with it, the many excellent rivalries would greatly add to the season.

 

[richpats]

Pay-per-view superbowl. Out of country superbowl, now this?

Good lord what ******s keep making these ideas?

all about the $$$$$

Profootballtalk did have a good idea about setting up interconference "rivalries" between an AFC and NFC team. IF the league had to do a 17th game I could accept that.

 

[QuiGon]

I'm a big proponent of the 17th game if they make it an inter-conference rivalry game. It's silly that natural rivals across conferences only play once every 4 years. Imagine if these were annual games--it'd be awesome.
Jets-Giants
Steelers-Eagles
Raiders-49ers
Skins-Ravens
Dallas-Houston
...

Most teams in the league could come up with a natural inter-conference rival based on geography--the Patriots are among the few teams without anything close. But if those few teams could just live with it, the many excellent rivalries would greatly add to the season.

I am not sure I would want to do that because it would be the same thing MLB did: Forcing an unnatural "natural rival" on 24 teams to accomodate the 8 or so where it would actually make sense. Philly and Pittsburgh may be in the same state, but they are 300+ miles away... so I am not quite sure I would call that a "natural rivalry".

Besides, in baseball it's all just a gimmick to increase ticket sales 2 weekends per year. The NFL doesn't need gimmicks to sell tickets.

 

[DarrylS]

17 game season sounds ackward, like an even number better.. all pro sports have an even number season. It is incredibly hard to get tix now to the SB, imagine what it will be like going to Mexico City.. as much as they want to market it internationally my vote is for keeping it in the US.

 

[QuiGon]

17 game season sounds ackward, like an even number better.. all pro sports have an even number season. It is incredibly hard to get tix now to the SB, imagine what it will be like going to Mexico City.. as much as they want to market it internationally my vote is for keeping it in the US.

Putting the Super Bowl in a foreign city would be a slap in the face to the loyal fans of the NFL that have made the league what it is today. Hell, I am already pissed off about the NY-Mia game and if I was a Dolphins season ticket holder I would be even more mad about the whole thing because they are screwing the season ticket holders by giving them one less game to go to.

 

[DarrylS]

Putting the Super Bowl in a foreign city would be a slap in the face to the loyal fans of the NFL that have made the league what it is today. Hell, I am already pissed off about the NY-Mia game and if I was a Dolphins season ticket holder I would be even more mad about the whole thing because they are screwing the season ticket holders by giving them one less game to go to.

This could turn out to be their first marketing faux pas that I can remember.. up to now it has been a virtual money machine.

 

[thomas144]

I don't understand why the NFL doesn't play all-year-long.

I can imagine they might have a few weeks off here and there, but why not a 46-game regular season?

It's not like professional football players need to play on their school's hockey team in the winter.

 

[belichickaholic]

The schedule makers would have fun handicapping the Pats and other teams this year, more than they already do. "Let's see, which teams do we want to send to Tim Buc Tu this year." They already use the Bye week to make it harder on certain teams. Let's not give them more ammunition. I hope this doesn't happen.

 

[richpats]

This could turn out to be their first marketing faux pas that I can remember.. up to now it has been a virtual money machine.

Having the Super Bowl in another country would be the TV equivalent of "jumping the shark". The NFL would never recover from it.

Remember when they just wanted to put a team in LA? Boy those were the good ol' days

 

[Seymour93]

I'm a big proponent of the 17th game if they make it an inter-conference rivalry game. It's silly that natural rivals across conferences only play once every 4 years. Imagine if these were annual games--it'd be awesome.
Jets-Giants
Steelers-Eagles
Raiders-49ers
Skins-Ravens
Dallas-Houston
...

Most teams in the league could come up with a natural inter-conference rival based on geography--the Patriots are among the few teams without anything close. But if those few teams could just live with it, the many excellent rivalries would greatly add to the season.

More games, the better for the fan. The NFL season is already so short compared to other sports. I know the players want the rest, but as a fan I'm for expanding the season. Didn't Hunter S. Thompson kill himself because he was depressed that the NFL season was over? Help prevent suicides - expand the season.

The only problem is that the current system for setting league wide schedules is perfect. With division realignment in 2002 came a comprehensive scheduling system. Each team plays every franchise at least once every four years. In the old days the teams would pick who they'd want to play (with some restrictions such as you have to play your divisional opponents two times each) based on the owner's preference. You'd have situations where the Pats and the Seahawks didn't play against one another for almost twenty years. It would be interesting to see how the league solves this question of scheduling the extra game(s). I like your idea Isaac but some teams don't have inter-conference rivalries. Who are the Pats' NFC rivals? The Rams? Nope, they're playing the Chiefs. Who are the Bills' NFC rivals? The Giants? No, their in-state rivals are the Jets. And so on.

 

[dhamz]

The options are to have the season expanded for the Intl games or to lose a home game for the INTL game. There is really no choice about which one is better.

The NFL is going global. It is all a matter of how and when. It really is a no brainer for them from a buisness standpoint.

 

[DaBruinz]

I am not sure I would want to do that because it would be the same thing MLB did: Forcing an unnatural "natural rival" on 24 teams to accomodate the 8 or so where it would actually make sense. Philly and Pittsburgh may be in the same state, but they are 300+ miles away... so I am not quite sure I would call that a "natural rivalry".

Besides, in baseball it's all just a gimmick to increase ticket sales 2 weekends per year. The NFL doesn't need gimmicks to sell tickets.

I think that there are more inter conference "Natural Rivals" than you are giving Credit for.

Tampa Bay / Miami
Carolina/Jacksonville
Seahawks/Chargers or Chargers/Cardinals or Seahawks/Patriots
Buffalo/Detroit
Chicago / Indy
Chiefs/Rams

That accounts for 22 of 32 teams and I am not even really trying.