Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

I can also see having one of those neutral field games a week starting in week two and ending in week 17. Cities could bid for the chance of hosting them and a big deal could be made out of them. That would leave weeks one, 18 and 19 for the inter-divisional games. Oh, and I have heard that players would be open to 17 games with expanded rosters and extra bye week. It would mean more jobs and more money in their pockets.

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

If the NFL expands its product it needs to commit to a full expansion of product. If they are allowed to dick around with a one game expansion they will get the revenue but not have to reinvest in the product.

20 Game season (Yes, add another month to Pro Football)
No change to number that make the playoffs
No change to number of teams
No change t0 4 Pre-season games (with rules being changed to help offenses, defenses are already 2-3 weeks late to catch up)
Expand 52 man roster to 60+
Expand Salary Cap

- The league is presently struggling with the the delicate balance between product quality and attrition. Slight changes allow them to milk more revenue while avoiding their attrition problem.

- The league has been at a 16 game season for 42 years since 1978. Players are bigger, stronger, faster, and hit harder. The roster has needed an expansion for a while now to allow for more rotation.

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

Why fix something that isn't broke?

16 game seasons have been the motto for over 40 years now.

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

I'm not so sure that I want an extra bye week. Have you noticed how flat we come out following a bye? I can only imagine how two off weeks would affect this teams intensity. Seriously though, I understand the appeal of a 17 week season. We have Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night games but I feel like the market is just saturated with football at every turn as it is.

One of my big points is that teams actually need four preseason games to really evaluate players. I believe that most teams tend to gel with a couple of games together after the season kicks off and we would get a watered down product to start the season. jmho

However, if I get to see my Saints play one more prime time game each year then I won't be disappointed in the least as long as we can stay healthy as a team for that long. Who Dat!

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

The players. This looking at it from a health perspective. Season is long enough as it is.

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

A grind.

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

They discussed this on NFL Radio's Moving the Chains almost every off-season. Pat Kirwan says that NFL coaching staff's have decided on around 50 of their (first) final 53 before the first preseason game. The final few are determined by which ones make it through those preseason game healthy enough to start the regular season. They have also said the recent sloppy starts by NFL teams comes from the greatly reduced practice schedules (also supposedly for the safety of the players). The regular roster isn't going to gel until they actually get on the field together. 90% of the playing time during the preseason games come from players that will not be starting a single game once the regular season starts.

As for intensity, it does not go hand in hand with player safety. An extra bye week would aid player safety. No bye weeks might increase intensity, as would more intense practices, but that would never happen again.

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

An extra bye week would break up that grind.

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

To increase revenue. When they increased it to 14 games people said, "Why fix something that isn't broke?" When they increased it to 16 games people said, "Why fix something that isn't broke?"

Re: USA Today/Saints Wire: NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA
 

Not enough to make it worth it. From experience, the difference between 10 games are huge. But a season where you play 15-16 games are a completely different beast. I did this twice when we had a 12 game season and also played an european Championship adding 3 games as well as a playoff game.

Your body is so worn down towards the end that every added stress just might push it over the brink to breaking.
One week off is like putting a band-aid on a broken leg it does very little to remedy the problem. Its not until 1-2 months after the season one starts to feel like normal again.