Today, NFL owners are meeting in Atlanta to discuss the “enhanced” season. It’s possible that the owners will vote on the matter, especially since most of the football people, many of whom could be opposed to a reduced preseason, are otherwise occupied with, you know, practices and games.
Once the meeting concludes, we’ll take a broader look at the pros and the cons of the “enhanced” season, along with some details that could dramatically impact the eventual fate of the measure -- whether the union will agree to do it, and how much money the union would want to increase the number of regular-season games from 16 to 18, with the understanding that, in turn, the number of preseason games would be cut in half.
Regardless of whether enough owners will endorse the move, the league office’s position is clear. Commissioner Roger Goodell has on numerous occasions spoken out in favor of shifting the 20-game schedule from 16 real games and four fake ones to 18 and two. And the league office has posted at its labor-specific website a blurb regarding an article in Dolphin Digest. Former NFL player Tom Curtis, publisher of Dolphin Digest, gives a "[b]ig thumbs up” to the notion of increasing the length of the regular season by two games.
“No matter what it takes to get a new CBA agreement between the owners
and players, it will dictate an 18-game regular season
and two preseason games,” Curtis writes.
“With the offseason training programs, minicamps, and required
conditioning, the players do not need more than two preseason games. And coaches already know, within a couple of players, the
make-up of their final roster after a few weeks of training camp.
“The fans will be the real beneficiaries of the extended regular
season. Their season-ticket dollars will be better
spent and they get two more weeks of real NFL football.”
We’ve yet to develop a final opinion on the matter. Before we do, we’d like to hear what you have to say about it. So feel free to drop a comment on the question of whether you want the NFL to play 16 regular-season games and four preseason games, or 18 regular-season games and two preseason games.