Because the NFL owners look at the $15 billion behemoth that is the NFL, and they hear the catcalls from fans across the league: they want more football. They want to get rid of preseason games. They want to see football played until President's Day.
What was once fodder for sports talk radio among fans is now, slowly, and possibly, becoming reality in the NFL.
With the League speeding through the process to strike on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, almost a whole year before the current deal runs out, the owners are dead-set on expanding the playoff field from 12 teams to 14 teams (seven teams per conference) for the 2020 season.Under the new playoff format only one team from each conference would receive a bye week, and would be paid by the league to sit the wild card round out.
The number two seed would suddenly be required to play on Wild Card weekend against the number 7 seed. In case you are wondering, had such a playoff format existed this past season, the Steelers and Rams would have been in the playoffs.
The owners would also like to expand the regular season to 17 games with an additional bye week, and get rid of the fourth preseason game. Such a change requires approval by the Players Union. If the union agrees the expanded regular season won't happen until 2021 at the earliest.
Part of the agreement would be an increase in player revenue, up from 47 percent to 48.5 percent under a 17-game regular season.
While there is plenty of money to be made on more games that count in the regular season, and definitely more money to be made on two extra playoff games, it is hard to believe that the players union is going to dive headfirst into this idea.
The biggest issue facing the NFL is player safety. The league has been its own hypocrite in that regard, enforcing new rules to prevent serious head injuries, while failing to care for its former players who have suffered mental and physical repercussions from the sport.
The last thing most players want is to play more games and risk greater injury. Just this past season Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly retired at the age of 28. Kuechly had a career of injuries that prevented him from getting on the field.
According to Reuters most NFL players are against expansion of the regular season because of their own health.
"The Union has said players don't want to expand the regular season, particularly without getting significant increase in the percentage of revenue generated by the games," Reuters quotes NFL insider Adam Schefter.
In a sports world where the NBA and NHL playoffs are too long and too oversaturated with too many teams, and Major League baseball is devaluing in a truly ridiculous plan to expand its playoff field to seven teams while protecting a 162-game schedule, the NFL has it perfect right now.
The 16-game schedule is just right, and the 12-team playoff field only puts the most qualified teams into the tournament while not devaluing the regular season. There is no reason for expansion. If the NFL expands to 7 playoff teams per conference and a 17-game regular season, it almost certainly will eventually expand to 8 playoff teams per conference and an 18-game schedule. It would be inevitable.
Sometimes leaving well enough alone is the best idea of all.
No comments:
Post a Comment