better watch what you ask for

[Paolo_X]

@"HfxTC"

@"wolverine29"

@"HfxTC"

I doubt that very much. There are hundreds of people plus all the gear on the sidelines already, cameras have to whell around, cheerleaders and such if you widen the field something will get shrunk. There is more to it than that.

They’ll switch to more overhead cameras or other techniques if they have too. Nothing breeds ingenuity like demand. Any move like that will be done with their broadcast partners who pay them billions for TV rights and something will be worked out. Cheerleaders don’t require a lot of space and if space becomes limited I’m sure they can adapt and spread out or split the team into groups in different areas. Fewer sideline passes to decrease any further congestion. These are all minor issues easily resolved. Certainly none of those are significant enough for the NFL owners to look like they are not taking player safety seriously.

Regarding the QBs, yes of course its only a handful of teams but only a handful of those guys are currently available, but the point is the trend towards is seemingly on the uptick. Certainly CFL style QBs are having success in the NFL quicker than the prototypical NFL style QB. Most of those traditional NFL QBs that have taken over their respective teams #1 spot are on the bubble of losing them just a couple years later. Now the answer on how long guys like RGIII, Luck, and company last is a question for another day but your point about them getting injured early on in their careers is well taken.

Now to be clear, I’m not advocating for the NFL to adopt a CFL field or CFL rules. I like our game. Is it perfect? No. But over the years the CFL and NFL have and will continue to adopt certain things from each other, whether it be technology like headset earpieces or the way things play out on the field. I also realize that the NFL is facing a massive lawsuit that could cripple them as a league if its successful. That lawsuit could take years to resolve, but in the interim it would make them look better in court if they appear to be taking player safety, head trauma and concussions seriously and adopting additional rule changes. In the era of bigger faster stronger players, its not unreasonable for them to think today’s player has outgrown the field size that worked for players in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and to make a case for expanding the playing surface in the name of safety. The NFL is a multibillion dollar industry facing the challenge of a massive lawsuit and current and former players and public figures questioning its safety and publicly stating their own children will not play the sport because of the damage it inflicts on the body. Its anyone’s guess how and to what lengths the NFL will go to to respond to this challenge to preserve itself and the money at stake.

And then you have the factor of tradition. Americans are as tied to theirs as we are. There would be an uproar and the hundreds of college teams and thousands of High school teams who would then have to change their field to reflect the NFl. I don’t see it happening. I think they threw it out there as a bullet on a powerpoint but I don’t think it made it any further than that.

Often many rules changes, including the discussion of widening of the field, begin at the NFL level and filter down.

I doubt the field will be widened anyway for both the high school and college games, and such a move is unnecessary for that matter at that level of play.

NFL play is a whole other dimension in American football!

Also most NFL stadia are big enough to allow for a wider field because those that were built since the 1990s were built to allow for also a soccer field with removal and re-positioning of seats.

Also there would be a phase-in period for older NFL stadia though still with wider fields as the dimensions would permit.

[Paolo_X]

@"pikk"

These moves won’t happen over night and thier fan base will be a very tough sell for this. But as one guy here said, the 1 yrd factor is a good idea to start with.

With four downs, ABSOLUTELY (EXPLETIVE) NOT! :lol: