Expanded playoffs over 18 game season. It could happen.

[SCO96]

I'm not going to post the entire article. But, I'm going to paste some of the more interesting snippets from Pro Football Talk below the link. I'd love to hear what you guys think about this.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/08/28/report-expanded-playoffs-likely-focus-over-18-game-season/#comments

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said recently that the NFL is looking at ways to make the preseason better for its fans and most would point to cutting the number of preseason games as the place to start....

Losing those games would cost teams revenue, which has led to a concurrent discussion about expanding the regular season. That notion has been met with strong resistance from the NFLPA and Maske reports that the league is shifting gears in response...

The potential change would give each league seven playoff teams while eliminating one of the two byes currently handed out. It’s expected that one of the six first round games would be played on Monday night.

With questions still to be answered about how much of a revenue boost that would provide along with Maske’s note that some owners aren’t ready to move on from a longer regular season, there’s more to work out as the push for a shorter preseason and talks on a new CBA go on.

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I may be in the minority in this, but I think this is better than an 18 game regular season. After hearing the comments from Andrew Luck and Gronk over the last couple of days, the last thing we need is for the NFL to add 32 more regular season games and subject their players to even more punishment. My thoughts from the discussion are highlighted below.

I wouldn’t expect the owners to give up millions in ticket revenue in the preseason without a way to recoup it by seasons end. We currently have 16 teams per conference. Six teams in conference make the playoffs each year. That means 12 of the 32 teams make the postseason. Even if you added 2 more participants over half the teams (18) would still miss the playoffs. It also makes the bye slot more valuable which keeps the regular season meaningful.

I like things the way they are. But, adding an extra playoff team per conference is a reasonable compromise “IF” you expect the owners cut 32 games worth of revenue from the preseason.

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Thoughts?

 

 

[joeyxfresco]

I don’t see the NFLPA having issues with this since more players will receive playoff bonuses. Also, more teams are playing less starters in preseason games so cutting out one game is the next natural move 

[run-run-pass-punt]

That's too many teams making the post-season imo.

I don't like it.

[SCO96]

9 minutes ago, run-run-pass-punt said:

That's too many teams making the post-season imo.

I don't like it.

Most of the people on the PFT website were against it as well. But, with the decreasing quality of preseason play and the risk of injury it's possible the preseason could be shortened in the future. Would you rather have an 18 game regular season or 2 extra playoff teams and two extra games on wild card week? The lost revenue from the preseason has to come from somewhere.
 

[Eazy-E]

I would imagine it would take 2 to 3 pre season games to generate the revenue of one regular season game. 

A single playoff game probably generates more revenue than the entire preseason.

[Daddy_Uncle]

We have this thread every preseason

[Tepper's Chest Hair]

I'd want to know how much revenue, exactly, they are losing by cutting a preseason game in a mostly empty stadium.

[TN05]

I’d be okay with this. We’ve been on that playoff bubble a few times.

[RenoCarolina]

I want to see rosters expanded.  Not sure why the NFLPA is not focused on this.  Deeper rosters would make it easier to spell valuable players when rest is needed or nagging injuries happen.  Why are billion dollar teams forced to go bare bones on their roster when the benefit to the fans investing in the team is palpable?

 

[Palmetto]

Its all fun until that 14-2 number 2 seed loses to a 6-10 7th seed wild card

Then that owner will be complaining about not getting a bye like they use to

[SCO96]

10 minutes ago, Tepper's Chest Hair said:

I'd want to know how much revenue, exactly, they are losing by cutting a preseason game in a mostly empty stadium.

I was wondering the same thing. I rarely watch a preseason game these days, but last week I did see a couple of minutes of a game. The stadium couldn't have been filled more than 60% capacity.

We have to remember that the NFL teams share their revenue. Those games are televised so the league gets the TV money. And, even the poor attendance balances out across the league since you're still playing 16 preseason games per week in the month of August.

If they weren't making SIGNIFICANT money in the preseason you'd think the owners would have already realized cutting the preseason is a good idea.

[RenoCarolina]

5 minutes ago, Tepper's Chest Hair said:

I'd want to know how much revenue, exactly, they are losing by cutting a preseason game in a mostly empty stadium.

Tepper ain't losin' a dime in our PSL stadium.

Until he builds his own stadium

[falconidae]

I like extra playoff teams more than 18 games where players can only play 16 games. 

Expand the rosters- if nothing else, have all 53 players available, and another bye week or two, add a couple of playoff teams, do it right, you get another month of football revenue. That more than makes up for loss of 2 preseason games.

[RenoCarolina]

12 minutes ago, SCO96 said:

I was wondering the same thing. I rarely watch a preseason game these days, but last week I did see a couple of minutes of a game. The stadium couldn't have been filled more than 60% capacity.

We have to remember that the NFL teams share their revenue. Those games are televised so the league gets the TV money. And, even the poor attendance balances out across the league since you're still playing 16 preseason games per week in the month of August.

 

 

I could be wrong but I believe "revenue sharing" for franchises is limited to national and cable TV deals and league-wide marketing/sponsorship deals.  Ticket revenue belongs to each team, which is why every franchise is always trying to build new stadiums and cater new stadiums to higher revenue premium seats.

Only a handful of preseason games are nationally televised so not sure that revenue is even counted in the sharing pot.