NFL to lengthen season?

Other Leagues and Entertainment
#1

AP) -- NEW YORK (AP) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell can envision a

Super Bowl played in mid-February if the league expands its

regular-season schedule to 17 or 18 games.

Team owners are expected to get a proposal, perhaps as soon as

next month, that would eliminate two preseason games and add one or

two to the regular schedule. Goodell said Friday at a meeting with

Associated Press Sports Editors such a format could push the Super

Bowl back to President's weekend.

"The idea has merit, I think," he said Friday, referring to

more regular-season games. "You are taking the quality and

improving it, taking two meaningless games and making them

meaningful within the 20-game framework."

A Super Bowl that late in February could conflict with such

other events as the Daytona 500, the NBA All-Star game and, every

four years, the Winter Olympics. Then again, there is not bigger

sporting event in America than the NFL's title game.

Goodell outlined a scenario that would have two preseason games

in August, followed by a dark week on Labor Day weekend, followed

by the opening week. There still would be a bye for each team

during the season and the week off between the conference

championships and the Super Bowl. This year, that off weekend will

be filled by the Pro Bowl.

"I think there are a lot of positives and opportunities to it,

but there are some cautionary things," Goodell said, mentioning

overexposure, safety and health issues for the players, and

agreements with television and other media partners.

"We have not found a saturation point for pro football, which

is a good thing. I don't want to be around if we do."

(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

For the record...the Super Bore is not the biggest sporting event watched by americans. The Indy 500 is!

#2

It's no surprise that the NFL will likely lengthen their regular season. I am surprised that they intend to keep the bye week before the Super Bowl.

#3

The NFL has found that the extra week before the SB builds the tension, anticipation- and yes, NFL haters, the hype.
Whether you love or hate the NFL, or couldn't care less, you gotta admit: they know how to run an entertainment business.

#4

Yes, the NFL is very successful and uses television better than any league as a buildup for a game. But then, another reason why I like football overall better than any sport, each game means so much since there aren't that many and this is because of the very violent contact nature of the game, NFL, CFL etc. Not an NFL-CFL issue at all for me, more a football - baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer issue.

They like the 2 weeks to sell more stuff and that but most of the players would rather a one week I've heard. I prefer the 1 week as well, hating to wait 2 weeks for the game.

#5

this could be good news for the CFL as well in that the regular season would go on longer into February thus leaving that much more distance between the Grey Cup and the Super Bowl. Even bigger could be the proposed "dark week" for the Labour Day. That would put the focus solely on the Labour Day rivalry games which would allow the league to better showcase its marquee match-ups that week. Finally, when the CFL expanded into the US, one of the concerns was the overlapping schedules with the giant NFL. If the CFL started their season out a couple of weeks earlier and the NFL followed suit by extending theirs likewise, that would be a difference of almost 4 extra games with no overlap between the 2 leagues. (pre-season games don't count).

#6

If my memory serves me right, some of the most exciting Super Bowls were when there was only a one week break between games, not the current two week break.

I too wish they wouldn't have that length of time between the games.

#7

Yes, but from a strictly business standpoint, I'd be willing to wager that the SB's with higher Neilsen ratings came after two-week delays, not one; and that extra week of media hype sells more newspapers/radio/TV ad time, which in turn allows the NFL to charge more for the rights to their product...the Super Bowl is less about the game itself, than the "event" it represents; think about it: the NFL has turned their league championship -every year!- into an unofficial holiday; it's like Halley's Comet coming back every year and huge numbers of people still feel like it's a big deal, can't-be-missed-one-of-a-kind-event!

Maybe Roger Goddell should be in charge of AIG or General Motors...

#8

Everything this guy Goddell has done publically has been a disaster.
The man is clueless.

#9

He certainly doesn't seem to have the posh of previous commissioners I can think off the top of my head. But he's young have to admit.

#10

There Earl, I helped you out! :lol: :lol:

#11

Thanks Sporty, you da man! :stuck_out_tongue:

#12

I don't know how much hype the extra week generates. In Canada (at least), there is relatively little coverage in the media in the first week. The Super Bowl hype machine generally starts when the teams and the media horde arrive in the host city, which I believe is in the week leading up to the game.

#13

The extra week off is also for the teams playing in it.

Think about it, the Cardinals last year played 19 games in 20 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. The bye week gives them time to rest and prepare for the team they are facing.

The NFL hopes that the two teams will be rested and prepared for each other so as to put on the best show as possible. Its worked pretty well for the last decade as most of the games were all hotly contested. All of the New England Patriots Super Bowl appearances were simply EPIC and the last 2 Super Bowls have been spectacular. 18 and 1? Arizona with the long touchdown pass with ~2 minutes to go and Pittsburgh comes down the field for that BARELY in touchdown pass. Amazing.

2000 St. Louis Rams 23–16 Tennessee Titans
2002 New England Patriots 20–17 St. Louis Rams
2004 New England Patriots 32–29 Carolina Panthers
2005 New England Patriots 24–21 Philadelphia Eagles
2006 Pittsburgh Steelers 21–10 Seattle Seahawks
2007 Indianapolis Colts 29–17 Chicago Bears
2008 New York Giants 17–14 New England Patriots
2009 Pittsburgh Steelers 27–23 Arizona Cardinals