Should the NFL move to an 18 game season?

Quote: Nareed

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

I don't think supply/demand has anything to do with why you pay separately and additionally for NFL playoff games, it's the same for every sport. There's no discount for buying season tickets in the NFL, you pay the same full price for each game, including pre-season games.

Playoff games are additional games/events, and not every team plays them. I suppose they could add the charge for potential playoff tickets to the regular season invoice for every team and see how that flies...not too well, I'd imagine.

Quote:

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

Yes, I think a game still has to be sold out 72 hours in advance, and I think some teams still sometimes buy up the remaining tickets (if it's a smallish number) and distribute them in various ways to ensure a game gets on the tube.

Quote: Chuck

Yes, I think a game still has to be sold out 72 hours in advance, and I think some teams still sometimes buy up the remaining tickets (if it's a smallish number) and distribute them in various ways to ensure a game gets on the tube.

It is still a rule, was great the first year I lived in Phoenix as it made a greater chance of a team I liked on TV. I don't think teams are allowed to buy them up on their own but rather there is always some group, media or otherwise, who will buy a fed hundred seats. The NFL will also extend the deadline a few hours if a team is that close to selling out.

Answers.com has a good article on NFL and how the TV works. Detail-oriented people will love it. Go there and search NFL and TV, I lost the link.

Quote: Chuck

I don't think supply/demand has anything to do with why you pay separately and additionally for NFL playoff games, it's the same for every sport. There's no discount for buying season tickets in the NFL, you pay the same full price for each game, including pre-season games.

Demand has all to do with it.

1) Typically early payment merits a discount, the arelier the biggger the discount. It's simple. The seller gets money earlier and delivers the product or service afterwards, while the buyer is guaranteed a product or service. But money loses value over time, so the seller entices early payment by providing a discount, essentially taking the loss of value for the buyer. NFL Season tickets are not discounted.

2) There's no need to include pre-season games, as plenty of people would buy season tickets without paying for preseason games, right? But the value of preseason tickets is very low. Therefore the seller forces them on to the season ticket buyer, who buys season tickets anyway. This woulnd't happen with low demand.

3) Just as pre-season is included, so the post-season could be. The seller could ask for a higher price, and offer either a discount upon renewal or a refund if the team doesn't make the playoffs. Notice this doesn't happen. Why? Because the seller is confident he can sell all playoff tickets anyway, but forcing them on to season ticket buyers might drop demand (and would interfere with sellign preseason tickets as part of the season ticket).

If the demand were low, if few peopla wanted to buy season tickets, you'd see discounts, no pre-season games tacked on, and free or discount playoffs tickets payable in advance.

Quote: FinsRule

I'm the only vote for lengthening the regular season.

Given your handle, I'm suspicious you want the Dolphins to be the only undefeated team in history.

Quote:

I don't know why everyone cares so much about injuries. They even out. If you care that much about injuries, then we should be calling to shorten the regular season. The NFL should just add roster spots or get rid of "injured reserve"

I am in favor of bigger team rosters. But that runs you into the practical problem of paying additional salaries and benefits. NFL teams employ massive amounts of people as it is.

I've this notion that human limits grow in time. So what was an extraordinary feat of physical fitness for one generation, is routine for most athletes two or three generations later. The great athletes are those who go ahead of the curve. Partly this is due to better training methods, partly to better gear, partly to better management of play time, and there ought to be many more factors involved from nutrition to medicine.

Assuming this is true, then we're at a point in time when 16 games per season are at the limits of the NFL athlete. Adding more games now would push ability past such limits and ahve negative consequences, not least as regards to season-ending injuries (and perhaps to career-ending injuries, though those tend to be more like a fluke).

Quote:

I understand about the concussion fears, but that needs to be addressed through the game, not through the length of the regular season.

Certainly. While odds of a concussion rise with games played, the management of the injury is more important. A concussion is not serious if it's managed appropriately. This can be handled with rules. Say the NFL designates a physician to rule on concussions. If he determines a player suffered one, he informs the Referee. Then the Referee bars the player from playing the rest of the game, no matter how important he is.

I know lots of players can play through injuries. Favre played several games at Green Bay with a broken thumb (in his throwing hand!). But a concussion is one injury no one should play through.