The case for an 18-Game regular season by Leigh Steinberg...

Dang! Has this guy been reading my posts? Lol.

[www.forbes.com]

The Case For An 18-Game NFL Regular Season And A Shorter Preseason

Leigh Steinberg
Contributor
SportsMoney
I write about the world of sports & entertainment

Training camp historically existed to provide three major benefits for NFL teams. First, it enabled players to get in shape after a long off-season. Second, it gave teams the ability to evaluate rookies and decide whom to keep. Third, it allowed a team to install a playbook and develop symmetry.

Four preseason games were specifically designed to support those goals. But the NFL has changed, and it is time to cut out two of the exhibition games and replace them with regular-season contests.

It makes more sense to start training camp a week earlier and play an 18-game regular season, with each team having two bye weeks to give recovery time and minimize injuries.

Fans have never liked the preseason. Ticket holders object to paying premium prices for games whose results matter very little. It is unclear how much emphasis each coaching staff is putting on actually winning as opposed to keeping players healthy. Preseason records have virtually no relationship to season performance. The final preseason game has the starters sitting out for most of the game, and fans are seeing many players who will not make the regular-season roster. The games are not appealing to the viewers at home, either.

Contemporary players employ sophisticated regimens of nutrition and training to stay in shape all year round. Few players risk the potential consequence of drifting too far away from their ideal physique. This is different from "football shape," the ability to sustain a hit, which can only come from contact. That contact is prohibited in the offseason. A few weeks should be sufficient time to acclimate.

The amount of time rookies and free agents can spend in organized activities with their new teams has completely changed in the last few years. Rookies who used to go to an abbreviated rookie mini-camp and then go home until training camp now stick around for a week of weight training and condition. Then they spend another month working with the team. There are ample opportunities to evaluate them that never existed before. Last year the final cutdown date was pushed back until after the final preseason game. This would have to be modified. Perhaps teams could be allowed to carry 63 for the first regular-season game and cut to 53 after that.

Teams use training camp and preseason games to install offensive and defensive schemes and put their players in sync. The reality is that the starters are not playing together very much in the proposed eliminated games.

The early part of the season is always going to be less smooth than later. This is true for all sports. The NFLPA objected to this proposal in the last collective bargaining process, and as a certified contract adviser, I will always support their position. They felt that two extra games created too much risk for injury. That is why I propose an extra bye week. They also objected to the longer spread of salary payout, but hopefully, there will be extra revenue and larger paychecks that come with such change.