NFL Owners: 18 game season / 16 game limit per player

[OrangeXtreme]

Report: Owners have proposed 18 games, with a 16-game limit for each player

The idea is hardly new, but it's emergence as a formal concept in collective bargaining is.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[rrlbees]

That would be the dumbest rule any sport has ever enacted.

 

[Fat tire 13]

That would be the dumbest rule any sport has ever enacted.

I agree. I've always thought the best compromise is simply keep the 16 game season but add a second bye week. It will definitely help with resting the players because teams often have to play on short rest with the Thursday night games. You could even eliminate a pre-season game too.

Sure, it creates some extra scheduling (and fantasy football) challenges. But in the end it is an extra week of TV revenue. How could the owners be against it...

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I'd hate to be the QB that gets stuck behind a back-up OL for 2 games.

Of course, Eli plays 15 games behind a back-up line every season.

 

[KaiserUEO]

I’m in favor of 18 games, but not this way.

Of course the NBA plays 82 and most stars will only play 70 max, but I digress.

In the end, $$$ rules and we will see 18, no max, but a Gameday roster around 50-55 with another 10 on the taxi squad.

No inactives and more bodies.

 

[MSOrange]

From Peter King's column this morning. Going to 18 games is ridiculous. As mentioned. who wants to go and see backups? And it impacts player safety to have backups at key positions like the OL. Players can barely get through 16 games. If they do that, they might as well just flush every player safety initiative down the toilet because it's all lip service. It's like ice cream - you love it but too much can be a bad thing.


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Fans don’t want 18 games either. I put out a Twitter poll Saturday and Sunday, asking if readers preferred a 16 or 18-game schedule. Of 13,533 voters, 79 percent said 16. Great comment from a Vikings fan, Jason Altland: “If I pay out the nose for decent tickets in Baltimore or New York to see my Vikings, I want to see all the healthy stars play. I don’t want to pay and end up with a [Stefon] Diggs or {Adam] Thielen bye game.”

Pro Football Talk also polled its readers over the weekend about the 16/18-game idea, with more options than I offered … and 62 percent said they favored 16 games—with 8 percent saying they favored 18 with a maximum of 16 games per player per season.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I disagree with everyone here. Im all for it. I'm not the NFL so I'm not paying lip service to player safety. You want to be safe? Don't play in the NFL. Screw that. More games is better. More fantasy football, more games to bet on. More entertainment for ME.

The 16 out of 18 rule also adds a ton of strategy into the mix. Do you just punt two games? Do you rest your better players against the better teams who you might lose to anyway and ensure victory over the crappier teams? Or do you try to win them all by resting your better guys vs the crappier teams?

As far as the roster setting, the coaches can handle it. As fantasy football owners, we've had to deal with having to sit our players on bye weeks for years, and manage. They can too.

I do however believe that the quarterbacks should be exempt from the 16 game max. That is a position at much lower injury risk than the others with the way the rules have evolved, and forcing a team to sit their QB is basically completely altering the fabric of a team...no other position in sports has such impact on game outcomes.

Never seen so many whiny ass players who dont want to play football. There are an infinite number of guys who would kill to play a single game in the league and surely would revel in 18.

Of course I believe the money generated by the extra two games should go disproportionately to the players and player pensions should vest at two years vs the current three.

player contracts should have at least a percentage of them guaranteed...and players on league minimums should have the entire contract guaranteed as long as you are on the active roster (like MLB)

If you are truly worried about safety, get out of the league. If you as a fan are truly taken aback at the atrocity of the increased injury risk of two more games, then you should be lobbying for a 14 or 12 game season.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I agree. I've always thought the best compromise is simply keep the 16 game season but add a second bye week. It will definitely help with resting the players because teams often have to play on short rest with the Thursday night games. You could even eliminate a pre-season game too.

Sure, it creates some extra scheduling (and fantasy football) challenges. But in the end it is an extra week of TV revenue. How could the owners be against it...

more weeks of football is more important the the total number of games, I agree. Shoot, lets have three bye weeks and have the season go two extra weeks. I don't really care if there is a full slate of games or not..i just need a few to get my crack fix in ...

any team involved in a Thursday game should be coming off a bye unless it's the initial game of the year of course.

 

[bpo57]

I'd like to see them get rid of the four exhibition games that season ticket holders must pay for each year. That's a scam. Most of the best players either play a few series or don't play at all and obviously the games are completely meaningless. .

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I'd like to see them get rid of the four exhibition games that season ticket holders must pay for each year. That's a scam. Most of the best players either play a few series or don't play at all and obviously the games are completely meaningless. .

the four exhibitions would go to two under the 18 game proposal.

 

[bpo57]

the four exhibitions would go to two under the 18 game proposal.

I see. IMO one of the unattractive features of MLB and the NBA is that their regular seasons go on forever. The NFL would be moving in that direction with 18 games. More games would either have to played in extreme heat or extreme cold.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I see. IMO one of the unattractive features of MLB and the NBA is that their regular seasons go on forever. The NFL would be moving in that direction with 18 games. More games would either have to played in extreme heat or extreme cold.

I don't think a couple weeks makes much difference. besides, this is football. part of the allure is you play through the elements. It's the sport of gladiators. this is one of the entertaining aspects of it.

 

[bpo57]

I don't think a couple weeks makes much difference. besides, this is football. part of the allure is you play through the elements. It's the sport of gladiators. this is one of the entertaining aspects of it.

I'm fine with them playing through it. I'm not fine sitting in it.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I'm fine with them playing through it. I'm not fine sitting in it.

Oh the humanity of it all

 

[bpo57]

Oh the humanity of it all

What blows my mind is who is advising the NFL on this goofy proposal. The league has a serious legal liability on its hands with the CTE issue and now they're going to add two more games to the schedule? Brilliant.

 

[Alsacs]

What blows my mind is who is advising the NFL on this goofy proposal. The league has a serious legal liability on its hands with the CTE issue and now they're going to add two more games to the schedule? Brilliant.

The NFL wants 18 games so it can eventually get the SB Presidents Day weekend.

The NFL will get 18 games but knows it will require a lot of give their first offer of the 18 games 16 max per player is never happening and they know it. Kickers, punters and long snappers having to sit 2 games each is just utter stupidity and forcing teams to sit healthy OL men with their star QBs is just never happening.

However the more 18 games is discussed publicly it gets the ball moving towards it.

The NFL vs NFLPA is like the Globetrotters vs. the Generals.

The NFL could get 18 games but right now they would probably have to lower the years it would take to get to FA from 4 years to 3 years.
Knowing the PA they will get their players can use marijuana and call it a win.

If I were the PA I would give 18 games for the following give backs. 1. The elimination of the franchise tag for all non-QBs. 2. 50% of all the revenue up from 47%. 3. Teams have to spend 95% of the cap revenue over 2 years up from 89% over 4 years.
That would prevent teams from rolling too much cap space over time.
4. Pension vests at 3 years not 4.

If the PA got all this and then gave the NFL 18 game seasons, and 10 year CBA both sides would win.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

What blows my mind is who is advising the NFL on this goofy proposal. The league has a serious legal liability on its hands with the CTE issue and now they're going to add two more games to the schedule? Brilliant.

It’s all risk assessment.. they project the increase in revenue relative to the monetary increased risk from litigation ... and calculated that the benefit outweighs the risk

 

[STEVEHOLT]

The NFL wants 18 games so it can eventually get the SB Presidents Day weekend.

The NFL will get 18 games but knows it will require a lot of give their first offer of the 18 games 16 max per player is never happening and they know it. Kickers, punters and long snappers having to sit 2 games each is just utter stupidity and forcing teams to sit healthy OL men with their star QBs is just never happening.

However the more 18 games is discussed publicly it gets the ball moving towards it.

The NFL vs NFLPA is like the Globetrotters vs. the Generals.

The NFL could get 18 games but right now they would probably have to lower the years it would take to get to FA from 4 years to 3 years.
Knowing the PA they will get their players can use marijuana and call it a win.

If I were the PA I would give 18 games for the following give backs. 1. The elimination of the franchise tag for all non-QBs. 2. 50% of all the revenue up from 47%. 3. Teams have to spend 95% of the cap revenue over 2 years up from 89% over 4 years.
That would prevent teams from rolling too much cap space over time.
4. Pension vests at 3 years not 4.

If the PA got all this and then gave the NFL 18 game seasons, and 10 year CBA both sides would win.

This would be good .. but the owners are so greedy and NFL players have such little leverage (60 percent of the league is on minimum contracts ) that I don’t see it happening

 

[rocklloyd]

Would wreak havoc with fantasy football teams

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Would wreak havoc with fantasy football teams

Is that really the reason to not do it .. it would reward depth and deft waiver wire transactions

 

[KaiserUEO]

The NFL wants 18 games so it can eventually get the SB Presidents Day weekend.

The NFL will get 18 games but knows it will require a lot of give their first offer of the 18 games 16 max per player is never happening and they know it. Kickers, punters and long snappers having to sit 2 games each is just utter stupidity and forcing teams to sit healthy OL men with their star QBs is just never happening.

However the more 18 games is discussed publicly it gets the ball moving towards it.

The NFL vs NFLPA is like the Globetrotters vs. the Generals.

The NFL could get 18 games but right now they would probably have to lower the years it would take to get to FA from 4 years to 3 years.
Knowing the PA they will get their players can use marijuana and call it a win.

If I were the PA I would give 18 games for the following give backs. 1. The elimination of the franchise tag for all non-QBs. 2. 50% of all the revenue up from 47%. 3. Teams have to spend 95% of the cap revenue over 2 years up from 89% over 4 years.
That would prevent teams from rolling too much cap space over time.
4. Pension vests at 3 years not 4.

If the PA got all this and then gave the NFL 18 game seasons, and 10 year CBA both sides would win.

Lot of good # info in there.

18 games will happen.

Add another bye and nobody plays on a Thursday after a Sunday (back to back Thursday’s ok) and somewhere in there you have the next cba.

 

[jncuse]

If they do this, the NFL should be willing to contribute much more to the pension plan (and also shorten the requirements to get in)

 

[KaiserUEO]

If they do this, the NFL should be willing to contribute much more to the pension plan (and also shorten the requirements to get in)

They will.

ALWAYS, follow the $$.

Here’s the other thing I thought of, they can always go back to 16, once they’ve claimed Presidents Day weekend.

Let baseball have its pennant race for an extra week.

Keep 2 byes and play 16 starting a week later. For example this year would start Sept 16 and end Jan 12, then playoffs and Super Bowl on Feb 16.

Now for the $$, let’s make this easy and say 10 games at $100 for a total of $1000 a seat is now... still charge me the 1k, but make the ticket $112.

It will help those who do the resale anyway.

 

[creatorsgam]

16 or 18 games. I love the idea of a 2nd bye week. An extra Sunday or 2 of football is a great thing.

Also, President’s Day weekend for the Super Bow is brilliant and needs to happen.