End exhibitionism in the National Football League

Once again, the most wonderful time of the year has arrived for fans of the National Football League. The NFL’s exhibition games, euphemistically called “preseason,” began with the annual kickoff at the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. Fans know that their teams’ weekly contests and daily pre-game speculation and post-game dissection are just around the corner. The feeling for football fans resembles that of children when Christmas merchandise appears in stores. Unfortunately, the anticipation has been unnecessarily extended just like retail outlets decorating immediately after Labor Day instead of after Thanksgiving.

Honestly, is anyone still clinging to the outdated idea that pro football players need four meaningless games to prepare for the regular season’s sixteenth roster? Teams participate in mini-camps during the off-season. Additionally, players voluntarily participate in drills with their teammates during the spring and summer prior to the official opening of training camps. The days when most, if not all, players showed up to training camp in mid-summer overweight, stiff, or otherwise indifferent to anything football-related since their teams’ last game of the previous season have passed. of the phonograph and black and white televisions.

Of course, most fans enjoy watching the first and possibly the second exhibition game. Those two provide an opportunity to see rookies drafted and new additions to the team acquired through free agency or offseason trades. Few fans have access to the scrimmages held during training camp, so the first exhibition game remains the initial viewing of the newcomers in their new uniforms. However, the novelty soon wears off in the knowledge that any outstanding performance must be weighed against the level of half-hearted effort from gaming veterans and the irrelevance of final scores. The only drama for fans watching the final two exhibition games lies in holding their collective breath in the hope that none of their teams’ starting players suffer injuries that prevent them from playing the games that really count in the standings. .

Therefore, this writer proposes the elimination of the last two exhibition games. Undoubtedly, the owners and others who benefit financially from conducting these pointless contests will object. After all, NFL teams charge high prices for tickets to these glorified games that season ticket holders can’t avoid since these exhibition games are included in their season ticket packages. Those who make a living based on game attendance, such as vendors, parking lot attendants and others, would hate to see two of their ten sales opportunities disappear. Obviously, some reward must be offered to ensure the pain of withdrawal.

The solution will prevent loss of revenue for those interested in maintaining the number of games played at an NFL venue, while giving fans more than they deserve: games that count in the standings. . The last two exhibition games must be replaced by two other non-conference regular season games. Just as college football teams typically play two or more non-conference opponents at the start of a season, the NFL would benefit from such a scheduling structure. The number of games a team would host would not change, so there would be no loss of revenue. Fans wouldn’t feel cheated paying to see as many inconsequential games as they currently do.

To further bolster the appeal of these two additional non-conference games, each team would have a yearly opponents roster that would spark a lot of interest among fans to watch the teams play each season despite not being in the same conference. Multiple matchups of teams in the same state or in close proximity to each other stand out as obviously interesting contests. The high level of anticipation would exist regardless of the records of the teams entering the contests. Opponents in the same media markets, such as the Jets and Giants, as well as the Raiders and Forty-Niners, would provide an outlet for the antipathy between both groups of fans on the field during a relevant regular-season game. Intrastate games like the Cowboys vs. Texans, Buccaneers vs. Dolphins, Redskins vs. Ravens, Eagles vs. Steelers, and Rams vs. Chiefs certainly have more appeal in a regular season game even though these teams they often play their inner part. state counterpart in exhibition contests. Even annual meetings between border-state teams like the Colts vs. Bears, Lions vs. Browns, Chargers vs. Cardinals and Falcons vs. Jaguars could turn into heated rivalries with a traditional season opener between them.

An added financial benefit of scheduling these games with teams within walking distance of each other should appeal to owners and fans alike. The shorter distance between the away team’s city and the home team’s stadium will reduce travel costs. For some of these proposed annual contests, the visiting team could easily take buses to their opponent’s stadium. A person doesn’t need a Ph.D. in economics or management to realize the tremendous savings in substituting one or two short bus rides for several dozen adults instead of flying across time zones for a handful of trivial exhibition games. . Additionally, visiting fans will be more likely to attend games if they can drive to the opponents’ stadium and return home on game day.

So when will Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL’s franchise owners adjust to the current situation and abolish some of their unnecessary games in favor of ones that will draw much more attention from fans? Hopefully, the change will come before the decades that passed before the NFL recognized the usefulness of the two-point conversion and implemented it.

COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES KASTRIOT AUGUST 2009