NFL 18 game season? UPD 2021 planned for 17 games

CartographerNo611

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Oct 11, 2014
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Of all the 5 sport commissioners (the big 4 + MLS) Goodell is the worst.

Bettman had an entire damn season cancelled, plus 2 partial lockouts that can count as another full cancelled season, and the 8 year Phoenix debacle that was straight up sad. Plus his fair share of dumb gimmicks and rules implemented under his tenure. Buttman is head over shoulders the worst commissioner when it comes to screwing fans with Goodell following a distant 2nd. Goodell at least has the looming multi billion dollar concussion lawsuit to hide behind when it comes to his gimmicks. Bettman throws out rule changes for the sake of change while having the most inconsistent disciplinary committee out of all sports.
 

Roboturner913

Registered User
Jul 3, 2012
25,853
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The quality of the league would be better if they went back to a 12-game regular season and expanded the playoffs to 16 teams, but they don't care anything about the quality of the league at this point as long they make more money.
 
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Bucky_Hoyt

Registered User
Dec 11, 2005
600
46
Singapore
MLB has unofficial game limits for its starting pitching staff and teams tend to impose innings limits (200).

Maybe it gives NFL teams a chance to develop their younger players with more game time - especially 2nd and 3rd string QBs.

Might make coaching a bit more strategic.

I do think 2 bye weeks makes sense. Possibly somewhere around weeks 6 and 12 of a 20 week-long season.

18 games makes sense if you only play teams in your Conference.

2x your division
1x rest of conference

Who cares if the Superbowl ends later.

Maybe something for NHL and NBA to look into down the line...
 

mouser

Business of Hockey
Jul 13, 2006
29,285
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South Mountain
The quality of the league would be better if they went back to a 12-game regular season and expanded the playoffs to 16 teams, but they don't care anything about the quality of the league at this point as long they make more money.

“Quality of the league” is an arbitrary definition.

The NFL is an entertainment product. We the consumers decide whether we think the entertainment quality of the product is worth spending our dollars on. And so far the NFL consumers seem to be speaking with those dollars.
 

Roboturner913

Registered User
Jul 3, 2012
25,853
55,526
“Quality of the league” is an arbitrary definition.

The NFL is an entertainment product. We the consumers decide whether we think the entertainment quality of the product is worth spending our dollars on. And so far the NFL consumers seem to be speaking with those dollars.

McDonalds sells more food than any restaurant in the world. That doesn’t make it good food. It’s actually terrible low quality food, and bad for you to boot.
 
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Kane One

Moderator
Feb 6, 2010
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This is actually probably the worst idea I've ever heard. If players are actually on board with this, God rest our souls.
My guess is this is the compromise. Players don’t want to play in more than 16 games than they currently do, so this is a pretty simple solution to that.
 

sawchuk1971

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Jun 16, 2011
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https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27390275/nflpa-issues-work-stoppage-guide-players

interesting note is that the percentage of revenue allocated for players can't be less than 47% ...they want to see this higher..interesting the nhl players get 50%...

Players and owners have conducted a handful of negotiating sessions this summer, and commissioner Roger Goodell has said publicly that the league would like a new CBA in place before the start of the 2019 season. But sources say little progress has been made in talks so far, as the main issue remains the revenue split between players and owners. Currently, the players' share of all league revenue can't fall below 47% in a given year, and the players want that figure to go up.

Work Stoppage Guide
 

IU Hawks fan

They call me IU
Dec 30, 2008
28,517
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NW Burbs
I think 17 is the way to go, solves everything IMO.

Send every team to London every other year, that way they get their 8 games without giving them a team.

Then you have a Mexico game or 2, and fill in the schedule with other neutral site games. It would be cool to see some games at college stadiums. Bears/Colts at Notre Dame, get it done.
 

tank44

Registered User
Feb 1, 2012
639
163
Seattle, WA
I think 17 is the way to go, solves everything IMO.

Send every team to London every other year, that way they get their 8 games without giving them a team.

Then you have a Mexico game or 2, and fill in the schedule with other neutral site games. It would be cool to see some games at college stadiums. Bears/Colts at Notre Dame, get it done.

Agree with a 17 game season with only 2 preseason games and 2 byes. The extra regular season game being a neutral game for all teams. The matchup should also related to the end of season standings like the other 2 games in the teams' schedule. So NFC West #1 would play AFC West #1 West 2s, West 3s, West4s, etc... The neutral site game locations can be anywhere globally - London x6, Germany x2, Mexico City x2, Canada x2, Other USA x2, Other globally x2.

Preseaon starts the same week it does now (2nd week of August). NFL regular season starts the weekend before Labor Day. Teams get one of their byes before or after their neutral site game, perhaps do a Thursday before and/o Monday after if needed too.

Playoffs could be adjusted where top 7 per conference make the team and only #1 seed gets a bye. Division winners still get the wildcard round home playoff games. Triple headers on Sat & Sun for Wildcard weekend
 

Big Z Man 1990

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Jun 4, 2011
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Don't say anything at all
They should expand the playoffs first before considering such a change to the regular season. I like the regular season format as-is, where you get to play everyone at all stadiums at least 2 times in an 8-year period.

The playoffs have needed expanding for quite some time. It's been needed since 2002, with the move to 8 divisions. At that time, the NFL decided to sacrifice a wild-card team in each conference in favor of another division winner, rather than expanding to at least 14 and keeping the number of wild card teams the same (or possibly more).

Between 2003 and 2015, numerous 10-win teams missed the playoffs despite fielding decent squads that year. In one case, an 11-5 Patriots team was cut off, but the team has made 10 straight playoff appearances since (an NFL record). For some other teams, missing at 10-6 was such a disappointment that the teams had long stretches of consecutive losing seasons afterward. Such cases include the 2007 Browns (who became the second 0-16 team a decade later, but now seem to be on the right track despite a 1-2 start this year), the 2012 Bears (who finally returned to the playoffs last year), and the 2015 Jets. Thankfully every 10-win or more team has made it in the last three years, the first multi-season streak of this happening since 1992-2002.

Also, since the last NFL playoff expansion in 1990, each of the other two major outdoor sports leagues in the US (MLB and MLS, the latter only established in 1996) has expanded their playoffs twice, and with three teams seemingly deserving of Wild Card berths in the AL this year, another playoff expansion in MLB may not be far off.

Another reason is that for several years no team that had to play in the first round has played in the Super Bowl. Expanding the playoffs to 16 teams negates that advantage.

This brings me here:

The NFL is now permitting local markets to air another NFL game opposite a team's home game, though this won't always happen (some teams are enforcing the old rule this week for instance).

The next step to evolve Sunday afternoon coverage is introducing a "reverse mirror", in which one of CBS or Fox's regional games in each market would also be carried on CBS Sports Network or Fox Sports 1.

The reverse mirror can be used to primarily distribute the top 2 games in a timeslot outside of markets where they are airing on CBS or Fox. Sometimes it can also be used to air another locally popular team kept off of the local CBS or Fox affiliate by the secondary market rules in a given week. Such cases where this might happen include Harrisburg, PA, where Steelers games airing at the same time as a Ravens road game can air on CBSSN (if the game is not on Fox instead). Or in Ohio, where the reverse mirror can distribute simultaneous Bengals and Browns games to most of the state. Or even in Florida, to expand in-state distribution of simultaneous Dolphins and Jaguars games.

In my proposal to expand the playoffs to 16 teams, the reverse mirror would also be utilized in the 1 PM slot on both Saturday and Sunday of the first round, with one slot going to CBS/CBSSN and the other going to Fox/FS1, alternating each year. This is a creative way to avoid playing playoff games on days other than Saturday or Sunday.

Of course this wouldn't happen until 2023 at the earliest.

And to make things more interesting after expanding to 16 playoff teams - division winners are no longer guaranteed a top 4 seed. This means you could win your division and still only get a 7 or 8 seed because you won a weak division. So more teams would be playing for seeding in the playoffs in the final weeks.
 
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LadyStanley

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Sep 22, 2004
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Report: NFL plans to expand regular season to 17 games in 2021

Good news for everyone who thinks a 16 game season is too short: the NFL plans to add one game to every team's schedule in 2021.


This pushes SuperBowl a week later to 2nd week in February. Requires renegotiating TV deal for another week, and CBA.

Concerned that due to lack of fans in stands, might force salary cap to drop to $175m floor, down from $198.2m level in 2020 season.
 

MNNumbers

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Nov 17, 2011
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Report: NFL plans to expand regular season to 17 games in 2021

Good news for everyone who thinks a 16 game season is too short: the NFL plans to add one game to every team's schedule in 2021.


This pushes SuperBowl a week later to 2nd week in February. Requires renegotiating TV deal for another week, and CBA.

Concerned that due to lack of fans in stands, might force salary cap to drop to $175m floor, down from $198.2m level in 2020 season.

Easiest way to fit it in the schedule is to unbalance the non-conference games. So, either 3 non-conf games or 5. The entire NFC or AFC would play the odd game at home, so all the playoff seeding for each conference would be based on parallel schedules - either 8H 9A, or 9H 8A.
Here is one possibility:
AFC West plays: H/A in division - 6 games. AFC North 2H/2A. AFC South 1H, 1A. AFC East 1H, 1A. And, plays...on a rotating basis: NFC West: 2H, 1A (these games would rotate through the NFC).
Details:
AFC West 1st, 2nd play AFC south 1st, 2nd, and AFC East 3rd, 4th.
AFC North 1st, 2nd, play AFC South 3rd, 4th and AFC East 1st, 2nd.
Non-Conf: AFC West 1st does NOT play NFC West 4th. 2nd does NOT play 3rd.
Thus, the non-conference part of the schedule is the balance from last year's results.
 

royals119

Registered User
Jun 12, 2006
1,457
1,139
West Lawn, PA
17th game for all teams would likely be neutral site
I can't imagine they would have 16 neutral site games each year. Where are you going to find stadiums for all those game that would sell out? It has been successful in London (and Mexico City if it hadn't been cancelled) because it is a special event. I don't know that it would work every week with different teams rotating through every week or every other week in two locations.
 

BKIslandersFan

F*** off
Sep 29, 2017
11,447
5,062
Brooklyn
I can't imagine they would have 16 neutral site games each year. Where are you going to find stadiums for all those game that would sell out? It has been successful in London (and Mexico City if it hadn't been cancelled) because it is a special event. I don't know that it would work every week with different teams rotating through every week or every other week in two locations.
Who says it has to only be in London and Mexico City?

Heck neutral site could be somewhere in USA.
 

Big Z Man 1990

Registered User
Jun 4, 2011
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Don't say anything at all
Many NFL teams are near college teams with large (65K+) stadiums, as follows:

Bryant–Denny Stadium (Alabama) - New Orleans, Tennessee
Legion Field (UAB) - Atlanta, Tennessee
Pat Dye Field at Jordan–Hare Stadium (Auburn) - Atlanta
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Frank Broyles Field (Arkansas) - Kansas City
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Southern California) - LA Chargers and Rams
Rose Bowl Stadium (UCLA) - LA Chargers and Rams
Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium (Florida State) - Jacksonville, Tampa Bay
Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Florida) - Tampa Bay
Sanford Stadium (Georgia) - Atlanta
Kinnick Stadium (Iowa) - Minnesota
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame) - Chicago, Indianapolis
Tiger Stadium (LSU) - New Orleans
Michigan Stadium (Michigan) - Detroit
Spartan Stadium (Michigan State) - Detroit
Memorial Stadium, Tom Osborne Field (Nebraska) - Kansas City
Ohio Stadium (Ohio State) - Cincinnati, Cleveland
Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at Owen Field (Oklahoma) - Dallas
Beaver Stadium (Penn State) - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
Frank Howard Field at Clemson Memorial Stadium (Clemson) - Carolina
Williams-Brice Stadium (South Carolina) - Carolina
Neyland Stadium (Tennessee) - Tennessee
Alamodome (UTSA) - Dallas, Houston
Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium (Texas) - Dallas, Houston
Kyle Field (Texas A&M) - Dallas, Houston
Lane Stadium/Worsham Field (Virginia Tech) - Baltimore, Washington
Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium (Washington) - Seattle
Camp Randall Stadium (Wisconsin) - Green Bay
Camping World Stadium (Bowl Games) - Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa Bay

NFL teams listed under each stadium are the teams most likely to be the designated home teams for NFL games played in these stadiums involving these teams.
 

Big Z Man 1990

Registered User
Jun 4, 2011
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353
Don't say anything at all
The 17th game for each team will be an interconference game based on the previous year's standings, and rotating among the divisions.

If somehow the Bengals and Saints finish in the same place in their divisions one year, they could meet at Tiger Stadium on the LSU campus - serving not only as an effective home game for the Saints, but a homecoming for Joe Burrow, who led LSU to a national title in 2019. Joe Burrow will already get to return to Louisiana in 2022, as the Bengals will play the Saints at the Superdome. Depending on how both teams do in 2021, Burrow's return to Louisiana could be on SNF.
 

royals119

Registered User
Jun 12, 2006
1,457
1,139
West Lawn, PA
There you go, college stadiums.

There are enough to make it work.
But who is buying the tickets? Say you put a neutral site game at Penn State. If you put the Steelers in the game it would sell out, but then you really just have a Steelers home game. If the point is to make it neutral in terms of the fans you would have to have something like Patriots/Chiefs or Jets/Panthers that most folks in State College PA don't care about. And if it is two NFL teams they don't care about, why are they buying tickets? Sure, some people would go, but not in the same numbers as if it were a home game for either team.

Unless you could find a college football stadium in a place that isn't near any NFL teams, so people nearby may be football fans, but not fans of any particular team, and would go to a game once a year just because it is local. Can you find 10 of those? and then put the six other games in other countries to "grow the game"? I still doubt it.
 

BKIslandersFan

F*** off
Sep 29, 2017
11,447
5,062
Brooklyn
But who is buying the tickets? Say you put a neutral site game at Penn State. If you put the Steelers in the game it would sell out, but then you really just have a Steelers home game. If the point is to make it neutral in terms of the fans you would have to have something like Patriots/Chiefs or Jets/Panthers that most folks in State College PA don't care about. And if it is two NFL teams they don't care about, why are they buying tickets? Sure, some people would go, but not in the same numbers as if it were a home game for either team.
If its Steelers/Eagles or even Steelers/Jets or Steelers/Giants, its gonna be 50/50 more or less.

Unless you could find a college football stadium in a place that isn't near any NFL teams, so people nearby may be football fans, but not fans of any particular team, and would go to a game once a year just because it is local. Can you find 10 of those? and then put the six other games in other countries to "grow the game"? I still doubt it.
 

IU Hawks fan

They call me IU
Dec 30, 2008
28,517
2,813
NW Burbs
But who is buying the tickets? Say you put a neutral site game at Penn State. If you put the Steelers in the game it would sell out, but then you really just have a Steelers home game. If the point is to make it neutral in terms of the fans you would have to have something like Patriots/Chiefs or Jets/Panthers that most folks in State College PA don't care about. And if it is two NFL teams they don't care about, why are they buying tickets? Sure, some people would go, but not in the same numbers as if it were a home game for either team.

Unless you could find a college football stadium in a place that isn't near any NFL teams, so people nearby may be football fans, but not fans of any particular team, and would go to a game once a year just because it is local. Can you find 10 of those? and then put the six other games in other countries to "grow the game"? I still doubt it.
I think the point is to put 8 games in London, to give them a full season without actually giving them a team, since the fans have shown they don't actually want their own.

Then you can put games at locations between 2 fanbases (IE: Eagles/Steelers in State College) and could even put northern teams in warm weather cities in December and market it like a bowl game.
 

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