As Week Three of the NFL Preseason continues today, the hot topic among the NFL teams, media, and fans is the preseason itself. Four preseason games are definitely too many in the 21st Century. With mini-camps and organized team activities, NFL football does not need more than a month of preseason preparing for the regular season.
At one time, NFL teams played six preseason games and then played a 12-game regular season. It expanded to six preseason and 14 regular season games in 1961 (1960 in the American Football League). When the NFL schedule expanded to 16 games in 1979, the preseason shortened to the four games we have now. So, this current formula has been in place for 40 years.
The owners believe that any reduction in preseason games should be accompanied by an increase in regular season games. The players don’t believe an 18-game regular season schedule is such a good idea, as injuries are considerably more prevalent the more games they play. With an 18-game regular season, some players will play 22 regular season games if they make the Super Bowl as a Wildcard.
Obviously, the NFL owners will not agree to removing two preseason games with no extra regular season games. The players may not agree on the 18-game schedule either.
Here’s our compromise proposal. Remove two preseason games, which means just one home game per team, and replace it with just one extra regular season games. That means the regular season would be 17 games. How could we favor an odd number of games, since that would mean half the league would play nine home games and the other half eight. Wouldn’t that give the half with nine home games a big advantage?
That’s not what we are proposing. What we propose is that this 17th game would be played at a neutral site. There are many excellent college football venues and bowl sites that do not host NFL football. How would a Dallas-Houston game at the University of Texas play in Austin? What about the Steelers and Eagles playing at Penn State in Happy Valley? Or, consider the Carolina Panthers and Cincinnati Bengals playing at the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium?
Opening pro football to all these other markets would grow the brand nationally like playing in London has internationally. Games in London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, and Munich could be schedules as neutral site games rather than home games. The NFL could add Mexico City, Honolulu, Tokyo, and Melbourne to its regular season schedule.
What would be done with the extra week of the season when the schedule reduced from 20 different weeks to 19? Throw in a second bye week for every team and construct schedules that give teams an off week following their neutral site game.
If this plan were put in place, the NFL season would begin tomorrow, Sunday, August 25.
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