One columnist doubts the NFL will have an 18-game season, and this version has "no chance" of happeningGETTY IMAGES
The NFL's proposal of an 18-game regular season with players limited to 16 games each is "actually, yet another sign that things continue to progress well towards a new labor deal," according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSPORTS.com. La Canfora: "I have yet to encounter anyone on either side of the [aisle] -- labor or management -- who staunchly supports it or believes it has any chance of actually happening." Just wait until one of those "makeshift lines gets a franchise QB killed because the left tackle and right tackle weren't scheduled to play that week." La Canfora: "I highly doubt we see any sort of 18-game format, and this particular one has no chance" (CBSSPORTS.com, 7/15). In Boston, Christopher Gasper writes the proposed 18-game plan is a "first-ballot Hall of Fame horrendous idea." Everything the NFL "touches turns to gold, but this proposal amounts to threatening, if not killing, the golden goose." The "ill-conceived proposal" would "undermine" the league's popularity. Besides the "feasibility of juggling which players are active for which games," having star players like Odell Beckham Jr. or Tom Brady "sitting out a given game would telegraph to fans and television viewers that said game is less important and a lesser product." The "competitive sanctity of the NFL on a week-to-week basis is the backbone of its success," and "weakening that in pursuit of getting overflowing coffers to overflow even faster seems foolhardy" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/16). ESPN's Adam Schefter said, "If the owners step up and give tremendous concessions and it's something that they really want, things always can get worked out. But to me, that's hard to imagine that the players are going to sign off on 18 games." ESPN's Louis Riddick said, "At the end of the day, money's going to talk." Schefter: "It's hard to hear all this talk for all these years about player safety and head injuries, and now we're going to expand to 18 games. Those two ideas just don't go together very well in my mind" ("NFL Live," ESPN, 7/15).
SMASH AND GRAB: In Jacksonville, Gene Frenette writes no matter how many times the NFLPA "rebuffs the idea of playing two more regular-season games," the owners will "keep searching for ways to kick in that door." The proposed 18-game season, 16-game player limit is the "NFL equivalent of new Coke." Frenette: "The crazy ramifications of players being limited to participating in only 16 of 18 regular-season games has disaster written all over it." How will Jaguars fans "react paying full price to a game, only to find out an hour before kickoff that Nick Foles, Jalen Ramsey and Calais Campbell won't be suiting up?" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 7/16). THE RINGER's Rodger Sherman wrote this proposal is an "objectively terrible idea." There is "no justification for it other than enabling owners to enrich themselves by diluting their product." The league "wants to add games by making load management mandatory." Sherman: "This idea is so bad that I suspect it isn't a serious proposal and is rather a distraction that owners will bring to the bargaining table so that their less dumb ideas will seem like compromises when they're hashing out the new CBA" (THERINGER.com, 7/15).
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: THE ATHLETIC's Ross Tucker wrote it "never makes much sense" why NFL players "so quickly publicly dismiss the idea of an 18-game season out of hand on social media or otherwise." There are "negatives, yes, but there are some positives, too, and enough layers to at least merit an informed conversation about the subject." Tucker: "Let's hope those are just talking points and/or a bargaining chip as the NFLPA enters an intense negotiation because the numbers could actually be favorable for the players." That is "certainly not to say that there aren't some potentially negative financial considerations to take into account." However, the "increase in cash right now for those players is such that they should absolutely at least consider the NFL's proposal for 18 games" (THEATHLETIC.com, 7/15).
