The NFL Looks to Expand Regular Season

In spite of the possibility of injuries the NFL is still looking to extend the regular season to have an 18 game schedule instead of a 16 game schedule. With how much the players get injured today, I don’t blame them for not wanting this elongated season and I am a supporter of them saying “longer season, more money.”

The NFL’s Executive Vice President Ray Anderson expresses the NFL’s interest in increasing the NFL’s regular season schedule from 16 games to 18 games or adding another playoff team per conference. Either of these moves would surely gain revenue for the business, but would further endanger the careers of current players and consequently compromise the records set by previous hall of famers; it would change the game as we know it.

The desire to make more money for the NFL drives the need for an elongated season, but players worry the risk might be too great. On a day-to-day basis, players put their bodies on the line for entertainment and just how much further are they willing to go. At this point the NFL is in great demand and part of that has to do with the lack of games on the schedule that fans get to enjoy.


Part of the issue with other major sports is by the end of the season you, as a fan, are almost glad it’s over because of the length of the season is just too much. With football this has never been an issue and the demand has never been higher. The sense of only 16 regular season games and the one-and-done nature of the playoffs make it appealing to the masses seeing as how the product is so scarce.

As the owner of CBS said today on “Felger and Mazz” “You might as well not fix something that isn’t broken” and that’s the exact philosophy I have on the NFL extending the regular season. Ratings have never been higher and the sport has never been more successful than it is today and for that reason alone let’s let it be. I, as a fan, would love to see a little less commercial time and a little more action, but for the most part the product is perfectly fine and flourishing.

Under the new 2011 labor deal the NFL could cut the preseason in half to extend regular season games, but from the perspective of the NFLPA the longer season will not likely happen. The NFLPA gets nearly half of the dollars brought in from regular season games and would make more money if the preseason was cut from 4 games to 2, but still seems opposed to the idea of a longer season.

A likely scenario is that the NFL would include one more team per conference for each year in the playoffs, increasing revenue and satisfying the ever-growing demand for the game. As an NFL fan I would love to see more football, but not at the expense of the players health. Let us know what you think by posting comments below.