Felger & Mazz On: An 18-Game NFL Schedule
Felger & Mazz discuss the possibility of Roger Goodell and the NFL expanding its regular season from 16 games to 18. Felger explained why the NFL is the only sport in the world that, if anything, could use more games instead of fewer. Tony then explained why the change makes sense, and why the players should negotiate for heavier raises.
Felger: "As a fan on a personal level, I would love 18 games! And I'm stunned so many people don't. The Monday after the Super Bowl...Do you remember the darkness that envelops us on that day? The beauty of the NFL is it's the only league in the world that I know of where you're dying for more when it's over. As a baseball fan, you get into September and its like, 'Jesus, Mary and Joseph can we end this thing already!?' And that's even better than basketball! You get to June it's like, 'If I see one more bouncing ball I'm gonna put my head in the oven! But football is the only sport where you get to halftime of the Super Bowl and you already start to break into a sweat, like 'What am I going to do for the next month!?' Right? There's that black hole in the sporting universe between the Superbowl and spring training, or your NHL and NBA playoffs. And now they're gonna close that gap? Oh yeah! It's also the only game where the games aren't too long. You watch these basketball games for 48 minutes to take 3 hours, it's absurd! I sit around Comcast for 80 nights a year with my thumb up my ass just dying for those games to end, like enough! In football, do you ever sit around saying 'God this is taking forever'? No, you get to the end of the first quarter and you're like 'Ah damn we only got 3 quarters left!' My point is, there's room for more football! There just is."
Mazz: "All the arguments I've heard against it, like 'It would make the season too long; it would devalue the games...' Well, no it wouldn't. Instead of going 10-6 to get in you gotta go 11-7. The same rules are still going to apply. Last season in week 15, Kansas City played Cleveland. That game sucked! It sucked then in week 15, it'll suck now in week 18 or whatever the hell it's gonna be. You're still gonna get the same issues you have now, whether its 16 or 18. If the owners wanna do this and they're looking for ways to make more revenue, fine- what's in it for everybody else? What's in it? Tell me. Because if I'm a player I look at it and I say, 'Look, the season is 4 games a month for 4 months. It's 16 weeks, 16 games. I get paid on game checks, that's pretty standard. The season has been standard for a long time. So you know what, you're gonna ask me to work more? I want overtime.'"
