NFL Regular Season, When is More Too Much?

Back in my early NFL coaching career, which began some 42 years ago, I was criticized by a head coach and long-time administrator as being too compassionate, too concerned about the well-being of the players and for failing to understand how the NFL really is a “stone cold business.”

I foolishly had queried about this individual’s coaching techniques with defensive backs and as to why he did not try to teach them to backpedal better so the plant and drive was more efficient, etc.

His terse response, to paraphrase, was that “as a coach, he would be out of the league and the player retired before the player would learn to backpedal differently. That’s why we have waivers, he added, if they can’t do it, we cut ‘em and go find somebody else.”

A hundred coming, a hundred going and another hundred in mind was his mantra.

Today, not a shock to me, but probably a bit of a stunner to the current suits on Park Avenue, league owners, and maybe even some coaches, but surely not to the players or to the fans, I find myself to be an even more compassionate ex-coach.

So much talk is dominating mainstream media, sports talk shows and even social media about extending the season to 18, maybe 19 and possibly even 20 regular season games that it is time to peel back the layers on the so-called onion and to take a hard look at the pros and cons of extending the regular season.

Rodger Goodell, as commissioner, has mentioned on multiple occasions that his goal is to gin up annual revenues from somewhere in the current $13-billion area annually to over $25 billion annually within the next four to five years.

Of course, owners are hitching their wagons to that goal because it only serves to enhance the value of their franchises, but at what cost does that increase in regular season games bring to the table?

Surely we realize there will be a significant bump in revenues, and as the league continues on its mission to globalize the game, there will be more international games, an expansion of time zones in which games will be broadcast and more means by which the league will exploit soaking the general public (aka fans) for subscription fees for streaming and for broadcasts on a multitude of platforms.

So, as the saying goes, “greed is good.” Increased revenues in addition to new revenue streams bring about more money for broadcast rights, more ticket sales, more merchandising and more sponsorship opportunities.

Obviously, there will be more content, more fantasy football leagues, more gambling dollars and maybe expansion from 32 to possibly 36 teams as the league’s global footprint and global reach explodes in an endeavor to reach more viewers and to tap into their pocketbooks, yielding greater profits for the league and club owners.

Unfortunately, with all of the above statements, I still fail to see the compassion - compassion for the players and compassion for the fans!

I only can hope that current and future NFLPA leadership negotiates for expanded rosters, at least another bye week, a greater slice of the pie in terms of revenue sharing, an expedited route to vesting in retirement plans as well as a generous increase in short and long-term health benefits.

While the league office and club owners are counting growing sums of dollars in their sleep instead of sheep, the health and safety of the players actually must dominate the conversations in negotiations.

With each additional regular season game added to the schedule, there is a greater risk of injury and there definitely will be an increase in injuries because football is a high velocity collision sport.

Frankly, players may benefit from higher salary caps; however, players’ careers might be shortened because of the added wear and tear and, even over the long haul, the quality of play might suffer with what would be a dilution of talent as more players are brought on with initial roster expansion as well as later in the season as replacements for injured players.

Substitutions during games, especially in the offensive line where now most linemen are on the field for every snap, and rotations for the so-called “star players” will require closer management. Fresh legs easily could be a thing of the past.

What about the fans and maybe what might be termed “fan fatigue” with the over saturation of games? At this point in time, with 17 games, each contest, unlike MLB and the NBA, has significant importance, and there currently still is the fan appeal of “rivalry games,” like the Cowboys vs. the Commanders (still hard not to think of them as or not to say Redskins).

With the annual increase in ticket prices, parking, merchandise and concessions, the fan is feeling the squeeze in the pocketbook. Each year, as the price for all of the above continues to go up, when will the economic impact of going to a game become a negative as there are more games, higher prices for tickets, travel, concessions and merchandise?

In summary, everybody needs to take a step back and compile their lists of pros and cons and then engage in some serous conversations about the value of adding more games to the NFL regular season compared to the significant concerns about player health, the quality of play and even potential fan fatigue and over saturation of the product.

A message to the commissioner should be that greed may not be as good as one thinks!

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