Our Case for 18 Games
August 18, 2010 – We are a week into the NFL preseason and Sportscream, like everybody, is trying to get a handle on what it means. The first statement we’d like to make is that we are for the 18 game schedule. There’s nothing more disturbing than four preseason games, with fans paying full price, to watch critical injuries happen and marginal players try to make the team.
With a new collective bargaining agreement on the horizon, labor and management will likely wrestle over the player’s lament of “too many games on my poor body,” and the owner’s addressing the fans preseason complaints by adding two games that count, and generate more revenue for the fat guys.
Eighteen games will make for a different NFL. An NFL that will take a step forward against the mediocrity out of 9-7 teams making the playoffs. Opponents are citing the final games that playoff locks “take off” by resting their regulars for the playoffs. Proponents talk about two additional games factoring into those playoff qualifications and no more of an increase in “taking games off” than with a 16-game schedule.
We see it as more quality football, a longer viewing season, more revenue for players and owners, more chances to see inter-conference matchups, more opportunity for players, and different outcomes of playoff races. It will counter the evolution of the pampered player who wants to be paid more to do less.
The players argument is a testament to their greatest fear. Like a soldier trying to avoid a kill shot during active duty, players want to minimize the chances of a career-threatening injury. Promoting the game on the side of caution will harm it far quicker than two extra games.
