In an attempt to butcher the league, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL owners want to extend the season from 16 to 18 games. Why ruin something so good and special? Sixteen is a perfect number. Football is already a violent sport with tons of injuries. Every week teams lose multiple players to injuries. Multiple week injuries, season ending injuries, and career ending injuries will all rise. The average career of an NFL player is around 2 1/2 years. Half of the retired players can barely walk or remember what they ate for breakfast that day. It is sad to see these once great athletes as cripples and inferior forms of what they once were. I am not just talking about the guys in there 60's and 70's. You have players in there 20s, 30s, and 40s that will never be the same. An 18 game regular season will only shorten more players seasons, careers and lives.
I also think it could ruin the quality of play in the post season. The playoff teams will be lucky if they keep half their players healthy. Do we really want to watch playoff games where several of the best players on a team are not playing because they are hurt? Don't we already have enough of that in a 16 game season? Additionally, players who actually survive the regular season will have played an extra two full games. Two extra games equals many more hits given and received. All those hits take a major toll on the body. These guys are phenomenal athletes and physical specimens, but they are still human beings. They will be more tired and beaten up, causing the level of play to decrease.
The only positive of an 18 game regular season would be cutting the pre-season from 4 to 2 games. Pre-season football is worst than sex with a condom. It is the biggest waste of time. The best players barely play because the coaches are afraid of getting them hurt. Most of the guys playing in the games are not even going to make the team. I could care less who the third stringers are. They will be bagging groceries in a few weeks. You have to have an incredibly poor social life to actually watch an entire game, and even be a bigger loser to go to one. The stadiums are half empty and most of the games are not on television.
What makes it worse is season ticket holders are forced to pay for two pre-season home games. Tickets to football games are expensive enough to begin with. You basically have to sacrifice your child's college education in order to afford season tickets. Paying full price for games that don't matter is grand larceny. It is virtually impossible to sell the tickets for equal value. I can't imagine anyone being dumb enough to pay to watch a pre-season football game. The paying customer is then forced to either give the tickets away for free, or just not go. The hard earned money they work for is being thrown into the trash. What is also sad is it's probably impossible to give them away for free. People are not wetting themselves for pre-season football tickets. I wouldn't watch a pre-season game if it was being played in my backyard.
Unfortunately, without an 18 game season, there is no chance of the owners shortening the pre-season. A 16 game season will guarantee the continuing of a 4 game pre-season. The owners are very smart and will take every penny they can get. They will either get your money with two extra regular season games, or by continuing to force you to pay for two pre-season home games. They could care less about the health of players, quality of the games, or amount of money fans are spending on tickets. The fans are ultimately screwed because they love the sport so much and are very dedicated to their team. They will continue to watch the games on television or be suckered into spending the money on tickets. For most fans, football is their passion and religion. The stadium is their church. No matter how many times the fans are screwed, they will continue to come back because that is what true fans do. They have us all by the balls.
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