Preseason up for discussion
A shorter exhibition schedule is a possibility, but there’s little sense of urgency for owners
It’s not a new thing that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is talking about the possibility of shortening the preseason.
But it is interesting that the topic has come up again publicly. And, with a new set of labor negotiations between the league and the NFL Players Association almost at hand and with the saber-rattling about the potential for a work stoppage in 2021 already underway, the owners presumably will seek something in exchange for reducing the preseason, whether that means a longer regular season or an expanded postseason.
The idea came up in the negotiations that led to the 2011 labor deal between the league and union following a lockout. The owners proposed cutting the preseason from four to two games per team and increasing the regular season from 16 to 18 games. The union objected vehemently on playersafety grounds. The league dropped the proposal and said that it would not change the length of the season in the future without the players’ consent.
Now, Goodell is once again saying the quality of preseason games is not up to the NFL’s standards.
“When I go around to fans, that’s maybe the number one thing I hear,” Goodell said at a recent fan forum for Giants seasonticket holders, according to Newsday. “The NFL should do things to the highest possible standards. Preseason games are not that.”
A preseason of two to three games would be sufficient, he said.
“There’s value to them, building a team, evaluating players,” Goodell said. “But there are other ways of doing that. I think we could do it in three (preseason games). Almost every coach has agreed we could get done what we need to in three games.”
The question, of course, is what the owners would want in return for a preseason of two to three games. The idea in the past was to keep the total number of games at 20, meaning either two preseason games and 18 regular season games or three preseason games and 17 regular season games. The 17-game season creates the possibility of each team playing one neutral-site game per season, possibly overseas.
An owners’ proposal for
an 18-game season would likely remain a non-starter with the union, and a 17-game season probably isn’t any more palatable to the players. It remains to be seen if it will come up again.
The owners at one point seemed prepared to substitute an expanded playoff field for a longer regular season as the prospective trade-off for a reduced preseason. Either one presumably would serve to boost revenue, particularly from the sport’s network television deals.
The expanded-playoffs proposal would have seven teams in each conference, instead of the current six, qualifying annually for the postseason. There would be one opening-round postseason bye per conference, instead of two. That would result in six first-round playoff games instead of four. One of them presumably would be played on a Monday night.
The league and union could reach a deal on all of this separately, outside the framework of the next CBA. But that seems unlikely. When they attempted to reach a separate deal on the sport’s system of player discipline and Goodell’s role in it, those negotiations unraveled at the last minute. So now it seems likely that the disciplinary system will be addressed as part of the next CBA.
The sport’s marijuana policy likewise could be addressed in the next set of labor talks. The current CBA runs through 2020.
Goodell utilized a panel of four outside advisers when he decided to suspend Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott for six games under the personal conduct policy, a penalty under appeal by Elliott and the NFLPA. Could that use of outside advisers in the Elliott case be a precursor to a willingness by the league to make such an independent panel a fixture in the system of player discipline under the next CBA?
The league has offered to conduct mutual research with the NFLPA into the potential use of marijuana as a pain-management tool for players. Could that be a precursor to significant changes in the marijuana policy as part of the next CBA?
And if the players get a discipline system more to their liking, a marijuana policy more to their liking and a shorter preseason, what would the league seek in return? That is the big picture for all of this.
In the meantime, there does not seem to be great urgency among the owners to shorten the preseason, despite what Goodell is saying. The preseason “problem,” in the minds of some on the management side, has been addressed by going to variable ticket pricing, by which customers don’t pay as much for tickets to preseason games as they pay for those to regular season games.