During the run-up to the National Football League’s labor impasse last spring the owners put out for public consumption the idea that the league might increase the regular season schedule from 16 games to 18 games. There would be a corresponding decrease of pre-season games from four to two.
The idea of extending the season probably came from one or more of the television networks that carry NFL games. Greed feeds itself.
Nobody loves football more than I do, as my wife will tell you, but even I know extending the season is a bad idea. In fact, the season really should be trimmed back to 14 games.
The NFL has finally agreed publically that injuries occur in professional football. Head injuries. I’m talking about concussions. They happen and the league admits it now.
I believe the league would like to find a way to cut down on the frequency of concussions. I believe the owners are concerned enough about the investment each team makes in its players that the teams are willing to spend the money to investigate ways to cut down on concussions. I believe that, in the interest of good public relations, the NFL will eventually find ways to improve helmets and other equipment to help the players.
I believe the players union shares responsibility in this situation as well. The union should spend the money to investigate ways to cut down on the number of concussions we see each week and it should recommend a treatment protocol on the sideline to improve recognition processes. It is time that the union looked into ways to protect its members.
The most obvious way to slow the seasonal concussion rate is to trim the number of games. Obviously this idea would never get past the first sentence in an NFL board room, but there is a way to mollify the TV networks. This is another of my ideas that are too simple to ever see the light of day. It needs more complications in order to earn consideration from the powers that be.
My idea is to have a 14-game regular season schedule with two off weeks per season for each team. Each team would have an off week in the first and second halves of the season. Eliminate Thursday games, except on Thanksgiving. That makes for a 16-week regular season (14 games, plus two off weeks equals 16 weeks). Disallow practice sessions during the off weeks and force mandatory brain scans for each player during the off weeks.
I’d also recommend mandatory brain scans for all bloggers, but for a different reason.
The teams would want to trim their rosters because there would be less income with fewer games (due to less attendance), but I think the roster size should remain as is for a 14-game schedule. There might be slightly less need to return a player from a concussion if the teams have large rosters from which to find replacements.
I know, I know. Too simple. It would never work.
But I remember the story about the 18-wheel truck that was stuck in the opening of a tunnel because the truck was too tall. There was a traffic snarl as the engineers, mechanics and lawyers stood around looking at the problem, looking for someone to blame, looking for someone to file suit against and looking for the lunch wagon that was due.
Finally a five-year-old girl stuck her head out of the window of a car that slowly rolled by. The girl shouted, “Hey, just let the air out of the tires and put that thing in reverse!!”
It was a simple solution. It worked. And the girl got in trouble with her parents for sticking her head out of the car window.
You can’t win ‘em all.
Thanks for reading.
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