Given that this season is the first to feature 17 games in the regular season after 43 years with 16, it’s something of a surprise that an 18th game is now being discussed. One imagines this is a direct reaction to the losses suffered by the NFL over the period that the coronavirus was at its peak.
As Gordon Gecko once told us, ‘Greed is good,’ but is the NFL in danger of damaging their golden goose?
There might be an argument that players can manage the additional games, but it’s unsurprising that any significant changes have led to a backlash.
Tom Brady had his say on the 17th game and made it clear that he was against it, claiming it was pointless and stating;
“A lot of guys probably miss games over the course of the season anyway, so they probably don’t play all sixteen, most guys,” he said. “But, you know, if you’re fortunate to be able to make it through a season and you got to play the 17th game, I think there’s a lot of things that I would adjust to, you know, the offseason, you know, the regular-season schedule.”
Indeed the odds of a great many players making it through all the weeks of the punishing season are low, and the number of positive comments on the matter is far less than you’d find in an 888 casino review. After all, Brady knows what he’s talking about; this is the 44-year-old’s 22nd NFL season.
Maybe it’s time the NFL bosses took on opinions from the players because the idea of an 18th game is a big enough push. Then factor in that there is talk that among the expansion plans is the possibility of a new team pitching up across the Atlantic in London and then you can imagine the kind of complaints that would be forthcoming because that’s one hell of a commute!
There’s always a sense of ‘if it’s not broken, why fix it?’ and there are those who are against change for the sake of it. Expanding the league to service new markets is clearly a financially led process, but one wonders just how much money the NFL is looking to make?
In 2019, the league made a total of $15 billion, and Commissioner Roger Goodell has set a target of $25 billion by 2027 and in order to hit those heights he, and others, clearly have a game plan that may or may not please the players or indeed the fans.
One imagines when it comes to spectators that the addition of more games will always be approved until they are hit with any relevant charges and increases that are related to them.
When it comes to the ‘big four’ sports leagues in North America, the NFL is still streets ahead of the NBA, MLB, and NHL, but it appears they still want more of the pie and are ready to do whatever it takes to do so, regardless of how it hits the players, who are after all integral to the game.
