NFL Adding a 17th Game Opinion

Since Roger Goodell has been commissioner of the National Football League he has wanted a longer regular season with less pre season games. Most fans, including myself would be more than happy if this change occurred. The main people that this benefits are the fans and that is what football is supposed to be all about, even though at some points it is not. Around the league, season ticket holders of every team are forced into buying pre season tickets to all four games if they want to purchase the regular season games. That in itself is robbery but the teams still get fans to do it anyway. With one less pre season game and one more meaningful game it gives season ticket holders much more for their money. On the other hand, for the fans at home, which will be most people in this ruff economy, you will be able to watch one game with a purpose sometime into February. Hardly anyone watches the pre season games so this gives the teams an extra game of excellent fan attendance and television ratings. One more positive part to adding an extra game to the regular season is that it gives teams trying to get into the playoffs one more game to do so. Every game in the NFL is important because the season is so short, but if an extra game were added, one loss to a divisional rival would not completely ruin a team’s playoff hopes. The middle party here are the owners, an extra game would have little effect on them. However the game schedule turns out there will still be a total of twenty-one games played, with around the same amount of ticket sales. With that said, the owners can go either way with this scheduling dilemma. Then the opposite side of the coin is the actual players. The star players would be opposed to this because pre season games are a hang out for them since they only play two quarters at most. The other type of players are the ones to trying to make an NFL squad, they have one less game to prove to the coaching staffs that they deserve a spot on the team. So for the players overall, this extra regular season game does not make sense. I am sure that the Players Association will try to put this off another season as they have done since the Goodell Era. My overall feeling is that one extra game will be added to the regular season and a pre season game will be taken away. Of course the NFL franchises are concerned about making money, but to make money they must keep the fans happy. I am sure that most football fans would greatly enjoy this change and since Commissioner Goodell wants it as well it will happen in the near future getting ready for the 2009-2010 season.

Daniel Weberman

NYchalktalk.com