NFL Considers 17th Game

[infantrycak]

NFL officials are considering adding a 17th regular season game to accommodate the league's desire to play overseas games, Commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday, although the idea is in the formative stages.

Goodell and other league officials had not even discussed the possibility with the leaders of the NFL Players Association as of yesterday. But if the NFL decides to increase the number of regular season games it will play in foreign countries beyond the one to two per year to which owners now are committed, it could decide to add a week to the regular season to devote to a slate of overseas games while subtracting a week from the preseason.

Link

This would be perfectly fine with me. Take a pre-season game and have NFL Europe and fans in other countries pay for it instead of us.

[Goldensilence]

I know the NFL defiantely wants to expand their market and i guess i am fine with that. Just make sure TV deals are in place so that fans stateside get to see them.Heck it might even be a culutral experience for some of the fans...

But if that's what it takes to whittle down the preseason fine. I really don't think it needs to be long as it is anyway.

[Vinny]

I've been wanting them to cut the preseason down two games and go 18 in the regular season. The players have to get ready for the same amount of games and the fans don't get 4 friggin' practice games crammed down our throats at full pop. I'm not real enthusiastic about over seas games in the regular season. Let's play them here where the fans actually have a deep appreciation for the game and can get into the flow of the game and not cheer wildly for extra points and punts.

[Khari]

0 preseason games and 20 reg season! yay!

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Khari

0 preseason games and 20 reg season! yay!

Now your talkin' and I agree with Vinny about regular season games overseas... Let the fans of their respective cities enjoy their "home games"!

[Double Barrel]

How about the Euros support the minor league NFL Europe before we give them our premium sports events. It's not like we're seeing their Euro soccer games like United Manchester (or whoever they are) over here...nor do I want to see them, to be honest.

I hate the fact that they are exporting regular season games.

[Errant Hothy]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

How about the Euros support the minor league NFL Europe before we give them our premium sports events. It's not like we're seeing their Euro soccer games like United Manchester (or whoever they are) over here...nor do I want to see them, to be honest.

I hate the fact that they are exporting regular season games.

30,000 showed up for a NFLe game last weekend which is a phenominal gate for them; and a great sign that the game is growing, at least in Germany. Oh and Man U sells out NFL stadiums when they come over.

The only expansion left for the NFL is in other countries, Canada and Mexico being much more logical choices then Europe. I would love to see teams in Toronto and Mexico City before LA, that is if I thought the NFL could sustain more expansion, which it can't in my opinion (well it could but the talent would be so diluted the game would suffer).

[gwallaia]

Put another asterick next to any season records that are broken.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

How about the Euros support the minor league NFL Europe before we give them our premium sports events.

They sold out a big stadium for the London game in minutes.

Originally Posted by gwallaia

Put another asterick next to any season records that are broken.

Yup. Kind of a shame that some of the records from 12 game seasons are totally forgotten as the season keeps getting longer.

[nunusguy]

Increasing the Reg season game to anything from 1 thru 4 is OK with me and an improvement as long as they offset each additional RS game with a reduction in exhibition games.

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by Hoth-Boy

Oh and Man U seals out NFL stadiums when they come over.

Interesting....do we get their regular season games? Or is this an 'exhibition'?

I just know that when I watch the NFL Europe championship games, the stadiums look about 20% capacity. Perhaps certain cities support more than others, but overall, I'm not all that impressed with the attendance that I've seen thus far.

I guess I'm just aggravated because we only get 8 home games a year, and I have no desire to give one of them up at any point, especially to someone that probably won't have the deep appreciation for it that I do. Every Euro I've known (and I don't include my Brit friends as Euros) talk trash about "American football" while extolling the virtues of soccer. They don't deserve the NFL, IMHO.

But I realize, at the end of the day, it's all about $$$$, not about serving our passion.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

I guess I'm just aggravated because we only get 8 home games a year, and I have no desire to give one of them up at any point, especially to someone that probably won't have the deep appreciation for it that I do.

They aren't suggesting giving up a regular season home game. They will make one of the pre-season games into a 17th regular season game and play it in non-NFL cities here or abroad. Probably every other year we would lose a home pre-season game (since there would only be three--I assume alternating two at home one away, with one home two away) which I am fine with.

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

They aren't suggesting giving up a regular season home game. They will make one of the pre-season games into a 17th regular season game and play it in non-NFL cities here or abroad. Probably every other year we would lose a home pre-season game (since there would only be three--I assume alternating two at home one away, with one home two away) which I am fine with.

The NFL already has a deal where two regular season games will be exported every year, (so our home games will only be affected every 16 seasons. yeah, not much right now, but it could be a sign of things to come).

Owners Give Approval For NFL Games Overseas

"The NFL's team owners, meeting here Tuesday, approved a resolution that would allow the league to play up to two regular season games outside the United States annually"

With regards to NFL Europe attendance, it doesn't look all that impressive to me.

"League-wide average attendance after five weeks stands at 17,224 (as of 2005); the average attendance in 2004 was 15,925. Frankfurt leads with an average attendance of 27,477. But moving most of the teams to Germany limited one of the business objectives of NFL Europe -- to sell NFL merchandise throughout the continent."

Source

That ain't jack, IMO.

***edit: Here's another story, slanted to impress accordingly:

Europass: Europa opens with big box office

The biggest story from NFL Europa's opening day might be the fans. Nearly 90,000 of them turned out for the three games played last Saturday night -- 38,125 in Frankfurt, 30,355 in Düsseldorf and 20,887 in Hamburg. The total of 89,367 was the biggest weekend in NFL Europe's history. The return of Rhein's fans, producing a best-ever attendance for them in the LTA Arena, and Hamburg's second-biggest crowd in the team's brief history are encouraging signs.

20,000 people is nothing for an NFL game.

[Errant Hothy]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

Interesting....do we get their regular season games? Or is this an 'exhibition'?

They are exhibition games, and they usually don't even play all of their star players, if any.

And while the totals for NFLe aren't great they are showing growth, which is better then I thought they would ever do. Espically when you consider how complicated football is to soccer, and how few Germans (since NFle whould be renamed NFLg) play football.

[Double Barrel]

I guess my basic problem with it is using regular season games as exhibition. I don't care about bye week and all that, because the fact is that travelling overseas is taxing, and probably even more so when playing a professional football game. It will be an unfair advantage to division opponents when a team has to disrupt a regular season game to travel around the globe.

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by Vinny

I've been wanting them to cut the preseason down two games and go 18 in the regular season. The players have to get ready for the same amount of games and the fans don't get 4 friggin' practice games crammed down our throats at full pop..

I feel your pain.

It worked for me when they took away two of the six preseason games and added two regular season games to make it sixteen. I've been a proponent of a move like this for years. Players have a chance at being injured whether or not the games count. Might as well make 'em count.

[PapaL]

Extra game would likely be in foreign countries, link

NEW YORK -- Americans always seem to want more pro football. Yet it's the folks abroad who might be getting an extra taste of the NFL in the future.

Although talks are extremely preliminary, the NFL is investigating adding a 17th regular-season game and playing it outside the United States. The extra game would take the place of one in the preseason, allowing every team to play once abroad without sacrificing a home game.

This year, the Dolphins gave up a home date in Miami to play the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium in London. Two years ago, the Arizona Cardinals played a home game in Mexico City against the San Francisco 49ers.

"It is preliminary, but we certainly are putting resources into pulling that together," said Mark Waller, NFL senior vice president, international. "For now, we have the one game per season or two per season outside of the U.S. But we know it can be tough on home fans since we're taking a game away.

"So we have asked how do we create more inventory without taking games away from fans? That idea came up in internal conversations and we now have an international committee of owners and we talked it through with them, and they asked us to do some groundwork."

While the 17th game won't get off the ground next season, for sure, it could become a staple of the NFL's schedule by 2009 or 2010. But it would present some significant logistical and scheduling challenges.

One more regular and one less preseason? Consider me convinced.

[Double Barrel]

I still think international travel will be detrimental to the teams involved (even with a bye-week), thus an unfair advantage to divisional opponents.

But hey, I'm a realist that way, so what can I say.

[PapaL]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

I still think international travel will be detrimental to the teams involved (even with a bye-week), thus an unfair advantage to divisional opponents.

But hey, I'm a realist that way, so what can I say.

Lets take for example and East Coast team flying out to the Weat Coast for a game; its a what 3 hour time zone difference plus a 6 hour flight (These are rough guesstimates)? That same team can fly to Europe and be in a similiar time crunch; 6-8 hour flight and about 6-8 hours time zone difference.

I would say its ok if East Coast teams went to Europe and West Coast teams did the Asia travel.

[Double Barrel]

The problem is that the NFL will want the game(s) to be played at a time that can be televised in the U.S.

And from what I've gathered, Europe is not the only destination. Asia and S. America will also get games. While S. America seems feasible, going to Australia or Japan would have to throw the players' clocks out of rhythm.

So much of a football season is based upon the weekly cycles and routines. Having to play a game with jet lag, or recover from jet lag, seems to be detrimental to the cause. But hey, who am I but a mere fan to question the greedy intentions of the NFL.

They should schedule division games for these trips, so everyone is on the same playing field, IMO.