18 game schedule

If you run the league by trying to make the best possible product for the fans and maintaining the integrity of the game you will end up making more money in the long run than if you screw the fans to make more money in the short term.

 

if you look at it in terms of quarters played, some players will only have to play maybe 6 extra Q's of football... most about the same as they play now.

plus adding 2 regular season games and eliminating 2 preseason games adds little revenue from tix sales in comparison to televising them

18 game season is going to happen. Adding players might happen, but that's taking money out of the owners pockets... besides... if every team could add practice squad players to their active roster, how much difference could it actually make in a game?

 

Great point and I think this is going to come to roost in the form of ticket prices. As they keep pricing real fans out of the game (95% of them already are priced out) the stadiums will become more and more empty. Leads to much less concessions, parking, and the atmosphere suffers on TV. That eventually will lead to lower TV packages too.

I've always felt it's in everyone's best interests to have full stadiums. What they are doing now isn't working. What's sad is you would think in a deal with 10s of billions at stake that someone would be happy, but no one is. And the die-hard fan is rewarded with a lock-out.

 

You totally miss the point. The Home game revenue from concessions, souvenirs, parking, et al is EXEMPT from revenue sharing or the cap. This home game revenue is a huge portion of the PROFIT a franchise will make. The cap is 44% of shared revenue, so the TV revenue gets whacked. It's not like the owners make 10% of their share of the revenue or some crazy percant.

The $8 million they lose is right off the top. No way they give it up. I guarantee you that's the MAJORITY of the annual PROFIT of most franchises.

 

You're arguing that owners would never give up a home game when some owners have had to do just that these past few years. Somehow their franchises remained solvent without that (very generous) $8 million estimate.

Now does Dallas make a ton more per home game than Jacksonville? I'm sure. As far as I know they haven't had to lose a home game either yet have they? Perhaps they should be next, they are America's team after all.

BTW the last NFL team to fold was in 1952. When the NBA talks about contraction I actually believe they might have to consider it, the NFL though is not having those problems. The majority of that is due to the safety that the TV contracts bring them. Hell didn't the NFLPA try to bring suit earlier this year when they found out the owners were going to be able to lock out the players AND get paid off their TV contracts? This thing has been in the works for a long time, and the owners have all the chips where they want them.

I'm not against the owners turning a profit either, it's definitely a very complicated situation. I feel like they are screwing up a good thing though, personally.