Fuck 18 games. Burning player’s careers out sooner is not the answer. It may lead to short term revenue, but long term it’s detrimental.
There are a couple of much simpler, much more effective means of improving the NFL product without jeopardizing the longevity of star players, and may lead to greater revenue and more opportunity in the long run.
First, make all games more available. Instead of giving Direct TV, which has a tiny market share, exclusive rights to Sunday Ticket, make it available to all premium providers. Better yet, create a proprietary product, like Apple TV, and sell it. Then, each game could be bought individually or packages could be purchased to meet the viewers “needs.” For example, I don’t care about watching all games every week, but I do care about watching the Cowboys every week. Since I don’t live in Dallas, I would be willing to pay a premium to guarantee all Cowboys’ games are available, without having to sit in front of my computer. I would even be willing to pay for a fantasy package, where I could program in my fantasy players and get real time stats, personalized for me, right on my TV.
Second, add one more game to the lineup on Sunday afternoons. Fuck giving one network exclusive coverage every week. Put the onus on the network to cover games better by creating a little competition. Why continue to punish fans just so the networks get their fair share? And while we’re at, get rid of the stupid rule that the network can only stay with “bonus” coverage until 15 after the hour. Let the networks decide which games they want to broadcast and when.
Third, put a voting system in place. I’m not sure if it’s the NFL that decides which games are shown or it’s up to the networks, but why even let them make that decision? Why not put that decision in the hands of fans by creating a voting system? The NFL could segment the country into markets. Actually, they probably already have this in place. So fans could go online, register for an account, be placed into the appropriate market, and then be allowed to vote every week for which games they want to see on Sunday. And the rule is, if a game gets out of hand and one team is winning by 3 touchdowns or more by the start of the fourth quarter, then the network has the option of switching to the next highest voted game. Of course, this rule would be irrelevant to those of us who spring for the premium coverage. I like watching every tick of Cowboys games, whether they’re getting beat by 40 or winning by 40.
Finally, change the rule regarding local market coverage. I live in Scottsdale, so I’m subjected to Cardinals games every week. But I’m not suggesting taking off the local coverage. It’s important to force networks to show the local teams, simply for advertising and revenue reasons. However, enforce the rule above by giving the networks the option of switching to the next highest voted game in the queue if the game is “out of hand” by the start of the fourth quarter. You could even increase the mercy rule to 4 touchdowns and only if the home team is getting beat AND there’s another game that received more votes for that time slot. This still gives the home team penetration but doesn’t punish the football fan for being a fan of a shitty team. And for those hardcore folks out there, like me, who like watching their team through thick and thin, it’s more incentive to buy the premium package.
The NFL already has a great product, and there’s much more simpler means of monetizing what they have than trying to shoehorn two more games into an already lengthy season. The suggestions I’ve made reward us fans without being invasive to the players. I think if you ask any fan how the NFL could improve its product, you’d get a lot of “give me more of it” answers or “allow me to watch what I want to watch”. I’m willing to pay to get the coverage I want, but unfortunately, I don’t have a means. The NFL has made sure to exclude 80%+ of its market from getting more.
Oh, and I’ll still have the complaints of “give me more of what I want to watch” even if they decide to go to 18 games, because it’s not simply a matter of quantity, but one of quality as well. And the only person who can decide what quality means to me, is me. Just provide me the means and I’ll make sure to put my money in your pocket.