NFL Investigates Cutting Preseason, Expanding Schedule

Maybe the Patriots blew a chance to be nearly assured of being the last undefeated team in NFL history. The league is reportedly investigating cutting the preseason to two games and extending the regular season by two games. The switch would make the owners more money, which means it isn't an impossible dream. It would not cost season ticket holders any more, as they already pay for 10 home games.

There are impediments, of course. For one, records would all be made worthless by adding two games. Luckily football is not as stats obsessed as baseball. There would be additional attrition with the players now facing what likely amounts to six additional quarters of actual football. Perhaps rosters could be expanded to include the practice squad after a certain week. The biggest problem, however, is that teams would not agree on when to add the games.

If you add the games to the beginning of the season, in August, the hot weather cities would enjoy an advantage. It might be 70 in August in Buffalo, but it's 100+ in Dallas and Phoenix. Plus, there are still dual use stadiums, and baseball scheduling would pose additional difficulties. If you add the games to the end of the season, the cold weather teams would enjoy an advantage. The NFL would get their coveted bad weather games, but they'd be holding the Super Bowl in mid-February....possibly on Valentine's Day.

I think we'll see a compromise position, adding one to the front and one to the end. This probably works best, especially if they'll eliminate the bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. I think we can all agree that more football is not a bad thing. Hopefully this will get done.