The 17-game regular season has come up in football circles again since the collective bargaining agreement is in its last year. The players have constantly stated they are against making the regular season any longer. The owners want 17 games to get more money from its television partners and because the preseason simply isn’t sustainable for anyone — fans, owners, players, coaches — as currently constituted. The 17-game schedule is one of the biggest things that will be talked about during the CBA negotiation. It’s really the biggest piece of leverage the players have over the owners in this round of talks. There are some things that need to change, and the players would be smart to focus on the following talking points any time 17 games is brought up.
Compensation
The players are already trying to push off a 17-game season until 2023 according to reports. The reason is simple. There are contracts that are running until 2022 and 2023 and players aren’t going to get their deals suddenly changed because the league is creating an extra game. A contract is a contract.
Right now, players are paid out each week of the season in a game check. That game check would be slightly lower for each game to make up for the extra game check. If the players are able to hold off the 17-game season until then, players can negotiate for a 17-game contract versus a 16-game contract.
There are some answers to the problem, but none of them are easy. Owners could offer to take a player’s contract and increase their game checks by one more game. That’s not going to happen. Owners are not in the business of giving away money. The only other option is to delay the deal like the players want, but there’s a problem there as well.
Television deals
The television deals don’t renew after the 2021 season. The CBA expires after the 2020 season. This protects the television partners and gives a bit of a buffer for the NFL to reach a CBA first and then a television deal, but if the 17 game contract is pushed into place immediately, the television partners could get a free year with an extra game.
Again, when in the history of time has the NFL and its owners just given stuff away? They don’t need to prove anything here. If 4-million people are watching the XFL, then the normal viewership numbers for the NFL should be expected when adding an extra game.
The NFL could just package that extra week and sell it to a streaming partner, but the television partners aren’t just going to give that up. The main reason the NFL wants a 17-game season in place is that they want more money from distribution partners. That’s why the league will push for the 17 game season immediately — and not the delay the players want.
Health and wellness and bye weeks
I don’t know if you’ve heard about this, but the NFL has made a big deal about the health and wellness of players. They’ve changed rules. They are more aware of the effects of concussions on the short term and long term health of the league’s players. It’s kind of important . . . or so they say.
If it’s important then the league needs to add an extra bye week to the season. That’s right. Two bye weeks for everyone. That may throw a wrench into . . .
Scheduling
It’s not as simple as starting the NFL a week earlier. It doesn’t work that way. The league will have to add an extra bye week for 32 teams. They will need to figure out a way to make this work with their schedule. That could mean moving the Super Bowl back a week — or more. The league and the television partners won’t mind because it’s just more NFL football.
Roster expansion
We’ve been saying this for a while now anyway. Rosters aren’t big enough. It creates situations where teams have to put unprepared players onto the field. That makes for a bad product. With 17 regular-season games, the NFLPA has the leverage to get more players on the roster and they could argue that practice squads should be expanded as well. This gets more players getting paid to play professional football. It also expands union membership. This means more money needs to go the players — as in a higher percentage of football-related income needs to go to the players — and that needs to be explained in negotiations.
Practice
We talking about practice. One major explanation for the reduction in quality of play earlier in the season– especially of offensive linemen — is there simply isn’t enough practice. Well, if the league is adding another game, the players should want even fewer practices. That’s how this works. They shouldn’t have to grind their body to a pulp in padded practices if they are going 100 percent full bore for another game. That’s why it’s not just as starting the season earlier. Teams need more time to practice, but also can’t be grinding players down with physical sessions. That means more learning, more tape time, more mental reps. It may not be the same as a live practice, but it will have to do to protect the players’ health.
