The real reason the NFL wants an 18 game season is simple. We all know why.
Because tv ratings have gone thru the roof, and the television networks want to extend the season and make it longer. When this happens the networks will joyfully fork over many extra billions of dollars.
The pie then gets bigger for both players and owners.
The problem thou is obvious. Football is very physical, and you just cant make human players play another 6 hours worth of football without putting them at serious risk of getting injured.
So here is my solution.
Stay with the 16 game season, but add 2 more bye weeks for a total of 3.
Every team gets 3 bye weeks a season.
This solves 2 problems.
1)This will make the NFL season last just as long as an 18 game season would last. Therefore television networks will be able to fork over almost as much money to the NFL as they would with an 18 game season.
Yes I know, this also means that there will be 3 weeks a season where the local TV market will not air the local team, and the ratings will not be quite as good, and there will still be the same amount of games.
Yes there will be the same amount of games, but the season will be extended to the same length as if teams were playing 18 games with the 3 bye weeks.
What will happen is all the games will be broadcast to a wider audience then they are now.
On a typical week we have 13 sunday games getting split up to 13 different markets.
If you go the 3 bye week route, then you will have lets say 8 sunday games spread over 8 markets.
Instead of the Saints/Falcons only being aired in Louisiana and Georgia on a typical week, they would also be aired in Tampa and North Caralina, Dallas, Houston etc.... depending on which other markets near by have bye weeks. This also gives the networks the chance to play huge NFL GOW type games to more people. When you have a huge game like Pittsburgh vs the Patriots, if the Bengals have a bye that week, instead of them playing the Bengals and the Browns which they would normally be forced to play, they could send the GOTW to an even bigger audience. $$$$$$$ you get my drift?
I think the only entity that this idea will hurt is the Directv Sunday Ticket, because the games will be spread out more, and it will lesson the chances of you not being able to see a particular game because its more spread out.
This will not kill the Sunday Ticket, it will just make it worth a little bit less.
2) This is the biggest one of all. Injuries! Wouldnt it be great for everyteam in the NFL to have extra bye weeks to help the players recover and prevent injuries?
The NFL is suffering from a pretty bad case of bad PR over the issue of them not caring about the physical well being of its players. What better way to show you care then to spread out the workload and give a player the chance to heal up an injury with a bye week every 5 weeks or so?
Not only will extra bye weeks allow players to heal, it will also help prevent injuries from happening in the first place because players will be playing at a lesser pace.
These proposals are the perfect example of having your cake and eating it to.
The owners and players get a bigger TV deal because the season last 2 weeks longer, and the players dont have to deal with the risk of playing 2 extra games.
Everyone wins.:9: