Should the NFL move to an 18 game season?

Quote: Nareed

Why would you buy tickets for preseason, or bet on preseason games? You wouldn't pay for warm lemonade, would you? or bet on three card monte. If you do, you deserve what you get.

I think they're included in the season ticket package. So you pay maybe 80% of face value for season tix, but the value distribution of the 10 games is 10,20,100,100,100,100,100,100,90,50. So season ticket holders lose per-game value by including the preseason games.

Season ticket holders don't have a choice. You have to buy tickets to all 10 home games, and the ticket price for the pre-season games is the same as for regular season games.

Quote: Chuck

Season ticket holders don't have a choice. You have to buy tickets to all 10 home games, and the ticket price for the pre-season games is the same as for regular season games.

Ok.

If the team amkes it to the playoffs, do you pay extra for post-season or is it included?

I really don't know how deep the discount for season tickets is. Would a person be better off financially if they bought tickets to the 8 regular season games separately rather than buying season tix including the preseason?

Quote: rdw4potus

I really don't know how deep the discount for season tickets is. Would a person be better off financially if they bought tickets to the 8 regular season games separately rather than buying season tix including the preseason?

There is no discount for buying season tickets.

You would be better off financially if you bought tickets for just the 8 regular season games, but your seating options would be limited. In some cities all seats are sold out on a season ticket basis, and the only tickets sold outside that are a couple of thousand (max) general admission tickets to each game.

My 2 cents: I think it could be a good idea (eliminating 2 preseason games and extending the regular season by two games), but from everything I have read and heard the players would be ground up like hamburger by the end of the season. Injuries would be a big negative.

What I think they should do is go ahead and extend the season, but allow teams to carry 60 players on the active roster. This will give them more flexibility to substitute and mitigate the injuries.

Some teams already "shut it down" after week 15 anyways. so adding 2 more games will have Peyton and other starters resting for 3-4 games instead of 1-2 and that is going to be like a preseason game at the end of the year.

Quote: Nareed

Ok.

If the team amkes it to the playoffs, do you pay extra for post-season or is it included?

It's extra.

The NFL authorizes teams that are in the hunt to send out playoff ticket invoices usually by the beginning of December (I've gotten one before Thanksgiving one year). Season ticket holders who want to buy their same seats for the playoffs are required to buy them for two playoff games, since that is the maximum any team can play at home. The invoices usually have a payment deadline that's at least two weeks prior to the first playoff game. The value of tickets for unplayed games is applied as a credit to your account for the next year's regular season invoice (or refundable if you don;t renew).

The prices for the playoff tickets are set by the league and are (I believe) uniform for each team. So for some teams, they're a lot more expensive than regular games, and for others, not much.

I'll give you a rough example, and also an idea of the inflation.

I have two Patriots season tickets, middle end zone. I bought them in 1992, at that time they were $29 each ticket each game. Last year they were $117 per game. Playoff tickets for the same seats last year were (something like, I don't remember the exact prices) $129 for the first round and $149 for the AFC Championship game.

2 tix to each of 2 meaningless pre-season games = $468.

Quote: Nareed

Why would you buy tickets for preseason, or bet on preseason games? You wouldn't pay for warm lemonade, would you? or bet on three card monte. If you do, you deserve what you get.

I think you already heard the arguments for buying preseason tickets, as far as betting I'm not saying I do it or condone it, I am saying it sucks that you have to wait 4 weeks to bet on a game that means something.

Quote: Chuck

I have two Patriots season tickets, middle end zone. I bought them in 1992, at that time they were $29 each ticket each game. Last year they were $117 per game. Playoff tickets for the same seats last year were (something like, I don't remember the exact prices) $129 for the first round and $149 for the AFC Championship game.

2 tix to each of 2 meaningless pre-season games = $468.

So obviously there is a large and strong demand for NFL tickets. Otherwise season tickets would include playoffs rather than pre-season.

This should be a consequence of the few games played per season, and that most of them take place in an off-day or after business hours. Two more games in the regular season wouldn't change matters much. The more popular teams might even try raising prices, since now you'd pay for more regular season games and less pre-season ones. The less popular teams, well, who knows.

Do they still black-out local games when they aren't sold out in time?