Before the NFL turned its attention to the upcoming draft, the offseason chatter was heavy on whether or not the league should expand its schedule from 17 to 18 regular season games. That subject was a popular topic at the annual league meeting in March.
There’s no doubt an 18-game regular season schedule is what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants. That would increase revenue – remember, it’s always about money – and allow the league to move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend. It would likely mean the NFL would add international games (one for each team) and perhaps another streaming service as well.
It would also mean reducing the preseason from three games to two, and (hopefully) adding a second bye week.
“I like it for the long-term growth and development of the league – to keep our league healthy and grow revenue,” New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told reporters at the league meeting. “I think preseason games have not been what (they) used to be.
“It would allow us to also grow the game internationally,” Kraft continued. “Every team in the league would play a game overseas. I think it would be a lot more exciting to the fans to have an extra game rather than the way our preseason games stack up.”
Why NFL’s 18th game is a bad idea
Typically, more football is a good thing. In terms of adding an 18th regular season game, however, more would be less.
Of the four major sports the NFL has the most meaningful regular season. Why? Because it plays the fewest regular season games. Each NFL contest carries more weight than a game in the NBA, NHL or MLB.
The NFL went from 16 to 17 regular season games in 2021. Lengthening the season in any way would be adding to an already saturated product.
Don’t fall for the talk that eliminating a preseason game and adding a game to the regular season is an even trade, since key players typically see little playing time during the preseason. That’s like comparing apples to dump trucks.
Another strong argument against going to an 18-game schedule is player health. NFL bodies are already being pushed to the limit. The fear here is that adding to the regular season would be the tipping point that leads NFL players to start taking games off, like you see in today’s NBA.
NFL load management? No thanks.
“From playing in the league, and I played 16 [games], it was a long season,” Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “So to play 17 is long, 18 is just adding more games. It’s definitely harder on the players. You think about the guys, and if you see what guys go through on a day-to-day basis, week-to-week basis, just to get ready for football games, adding another game is definitely going to be hard on the players.
“It’s not my decision to make, but just my perspective and what these guys have to go through and what they put their bodies through, it’ll be really tough to ask the guys to go do another one.”
Like having an extra dessert, an 18-game regular season schedule would be too much of a good thing.
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