18 game season (split off)

[MikeO]

Scheduling wise the NFL wants to move the Super Bowl to the Sunday before presidents day.  Beacuse that Monday after is already a federal holiday which most of America has off. Because the day after the Super Bowl is the most missed day of work in the United States. And politicans won't make it a national holiday (it has been talked about though). So expect the NFL season to start in late-September and end with the Super Bowl the day before Presidents day the 3rd week in February.

And the NBA is gonna have to move their All-Star game which is held on that weekend most years. And David Stern has already looked into alternatives and has a rough plan in place.

[BigDaddyFin]

Nothing like fixing something that isn't broken.

[MikeO]

Nothing like fixing something that isn't broken.

It's broken. The whole thing is broken. For one you have two sides fighting over money, one way to keep everyone happy is bring more money to the pot so it can be divded up. Increase for everyone.  Both sides win. Plus the playoff system as it is doesn't work. 7-9 teams in the playoffs with home games while teams with 10 wins sit home. It's not right, it must be changed.

18 game season, more TV money, more overseas games, becoming a global sport, more jobs....everyone is happy and everyone wins!

[BigDaddyFin]

More TV Money = More shit for both sides to gripe about, which leads to more strikes/lockouts.  The whole point of the labor unrest is the NFLPA wants access to the teams books and the owners won't give it to them.  Why?  Because they want to see where all the money's going.  Why? So they can carve it up better among themselves.  Why is this ridiculous?  Go to the CEO of your company or even your immediate supervisor at work and demand he/she open the books.  If they wait more than 10 seconds before laughing you out of the room, I'll be surprised.

More overseas games/global sport = They have soccer over there.  Watch the crowds of 100k + for a soccer game and then watch the 20,000 that show up for the NFL.  Get ready to lose a fortune on that for the next 10 years before it pays off if it ever does.  Your biggest money makers from a fan standpoint over there are people stationed at overseas military bases and their friends. 

If you want teams with losing records not to make the playoffs, either go back to a shorter season (the .500 playoff teams didn't start until we went to 16 games and 6 divisions, don't believe me, look it up) or go back to 8 playoff spots, not 12 or do something really retro and go back to 4 divisions instead of 8.

More jobs for who?  The only thing we're expanding is people overseas.  That does shit for anybody who lives here because (omg!) no matter how many home games you have, you still have the same vendors with the same contract.  So really they get a longer season to make more money.  Not hire new employees.  However, I'm not adverse to them making a profit so that's the only positive in any of this.

[Sunstroke]

It's broken. The whole thing is broken. For one you have two sides fighting over money, one way to keep everyone happy is bring more money to the pot so it can be divded up. Increase for everyone.  Both sides win. Plus the playoff system as it is doesn't work. 7-9 teams in the playoffs with home games while teams with 10 wins sit home. It's not right, it must be changed.

18 game season, more TV money, more overseas games, becoming a global sport, more jobs....everyone is happy and everyone wins!

Just my opinion, but I disagree with a few things in your post...

"two sides fighting over money" does not equal "the playoff system is broken" as much as it equals "both sides are chock full of greedy bitches"

"keeping everyone happy" doesn't necessarily equal "fixing it" as much as it equals "keeping greedy bitches happy."

Supporting the "it's broken" argument by citing the 7-9 Seahawks example, a week after that 7-9 Seahawks team dethroned the defending SB champs seems a little sketchy.

Don't get me wrong...I'm pretty happy with a new 18 game schedule, and have been consistent in my support for the change, but I DON'T believe that the system was broken. I also don't think that a "once in the history of the NFL" fluke like the 'Hawks making the playoffs with a losing record would be adequate justification for making that dramatic a change.

[MikeO]

More TV Money = More shit for both sides to gripe about, which leads to more strikes/lockouts.  The whole point of the labor unrest is the NFLPA wants access to the teams books and the owners won't give it to them.  Why?  Because they want to see where all the money's going.  Why? So they can carve it up better among themselves.  Why is this ridiculous?  Go to the CEO of your company or even your immediate supervisor at work and demand he/she open the books.  If they wait more than 10 seconds before laughing you out of the room, I'll be surprised.

More overseas games/global sport = They have soccer over there.  Watch the crowds of 100k + for a soccer game and then watch the 20,000 that show up for the NFL.  Get ready to lose a fortune on that for the next 10 years before it pays off if it ever does.  Your biggest money makers from a fan standpoint over there are people stationed at overseas military bases and their friends. 

If you want teams with losing records not to make the playoffs, either go back to a shorter season (the .500 playoff teams didn't start until we went to 16 games and 6 divisions, don't believe me, look it up) or go back to 8 playoff spots, not 12 or do something really retro and go back to 4 divisions instead of 8.

More jobs for who?  The only thing we're expanding is people overseas.  That does shit for anybody who lives here because (omg!) no matter how many home games you have, you still have the same vendors with the same contract.  So really they get a longer season to make more money.  Not hire new employees.  However, I'm not adverse to them making a profit so that's the only positive in any of this.

1) more jobs for playres. Expanded season mean expanded rosters. Up to 100+ more NFL players. Plus more games equals more stadium employees working. How is that a bad thing?

2) 20,000 at NFL games overseas, better re-check those numbers. Pats-Tampa in 2009 had 84,000+. The Miami-Giants game sold otu in 90 minutes. The game in Mexico had over 100,000+.

You might not like the 18 game season and all the good it brings. But it will happen. And it does a lot of good and very little bad!

[MikeO]

Just my opinion, but I disagree with a few things in your post...

"two sides fighting over money" does not equal "the playoff system is broken" as much as it equals "both sides are chock full of greedy bitches"

I never said one equals the other. I was stating 2 seperate points. How the NFL is broken. How things need to be fixed. Those are just 2 different examples of things that need to be fixed.

And if you DON'T fix the playoff format after a 7-9 team gets in and gets a home game, when do ya fix it? If nto now, then never

[Dave Gray]

I don't think the playoff system is broken.  I think it works really well.  I'd like to remove the bye weeks, maybe, but other than that, I have no issue with Seattle being in the playoffs.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

And if you DON'T fix the playoff format after a 7-9 team gets in and gets a home game, when do ya fix it? If nto now, then never

I will take the never.  It ain't broken. 

[BigDaddyFin]

2) 20,000 at NFL games overseas, better re-check those numbers. Pats-Tampa in 2009 had 84,000+. The Miami-Giants game sold otu in 90 minutes. The game in Mexico had over 100,000+.

You might not like the 18 game season and all the good it brings. But it will happen. And it does a lot of good and very little bad!

Bullshit.  Estadio Azteca sold out.  The Giants-Phins game sold out because they'd never seen it before.  The games Buffalo plays in Canada?  Half full.  How do you explain away the fact that they shut down NFL Europe because they lost so much money on it?

[MikeO]

Bullshit.  Estadio Azteca sold out.  The Giants-Phins game sold out because they'd never seen it before.  The games Buffalo plays in Canada?  Half full.  How do you explain away the fact that they shut down NFL Europe because they lost so much money on it?

Buffalo sold off the home games. That isn't the NFL moving a game overseas. That is the Bills running their organization. That isn't NFL driven. Nobody told or forced Buffalo to do that. Don't confuse the 2.

NFL Europe shut down because the players sucked and it was minor league football.

Plus how do you explain TB-Pats having over 84,000+?! New Orelans vs San Diego had over 83,000+

[fyo]

London should be able to sell out a game a year, at least for the foreseeable future. For the Dolphins game in London, there were over half a million tickets requested in the first 72 hours (despite the system being down for over a third of the time) by close to 200,000 individuals. That was right after the SB for a game to be played almost 10 months later.

Even the pathetic 49ers-Broncos game this year played before more than 82,000 in a sold out stadium.

That doesn't mean I have any faith of those numbers translating into high demand for a "local" team.

As for NFL Europe? That was just a crappy league that the NFL did everything they could to sabotage. There was absolutely no attempt made to make a "connection" to the city the team played and and the players were basically assigned a team, seemingly at random, with little to no continuity to make local fans care.

It's worth noting that pretty much every major city in most European countries have at least one football team of their own (not soccer). So NFL Europe had to compete for fans with local teams with an actual persistent presence in the community and much greater player continuity.

[BigDaddyFin]

Buffalo sold off the home games. That isn't the NFL moving a game overseas. That is the Bills running their organization. That isn't NFL driven. Nobody told or forced Buffalo to do that. Don't confuse the 2.

NFL Europe shut down because the players sucked and it was minor league football.

Plus how do you explain TB-Pats having over 84,000+?! New Orelans vs San Diego had over 83,000+

Because I don't believe for a second either one of those attendance numbers.  Especially when I looked on TV and saw a half empty stadium.  That might be the number of tickets they sold.  But that doesn't mean people went to the game.  And your dismissal of NFL Europe doesn't hold either.  Even if it's minor league, if it's going todraw people if the sport is ready to catch on. 

Fyo's explaination I disagree with, but I can still see his argument.

[Phishfan]

Because I don't believe for a second either one of those attendance numbers. 

Attendance numbers are always fudged, but you honestly think they alterered them by 60K people? Come on man.