NFL owners are "using the uselessness of the preseason" as a "chip in bargaining for the new CBA with players," according to Peter King of NBCSPORTS.com. The current CBA runs through the end of the '20 season, which means that unless there unless there is a "new deal before next May, the NFL will have the same idiotic four-preseason-games-per-team schedule" in '20. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has to "convince owners that the damage to the game for making fans pay regular-season prices for lousy football goes far beyond the owners losing a few hundred thousand each August." King suggests making "every ticket to every preseason game league-wide cost $20." That way, fans "won't have to pay an absurd price to see the third-string guys play a glorified scrimmage" (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/26). CBSSN’s Jason La Canfora said when the next CBA is worked out, it likely would see owners reduce the preseason and "add a playoff round." La Canfora: “That will put some of the money back in the kitty that's lost from preseason games" (“Time to Schein,” CBSSN, 8/23).
ROUGH OUTING: Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said there is "a lot of disappointment" from the Packers-Raiders preseason game in Winnipeg that was played on an 80-yard field due to safety concerns. Pallister on Friday said the logistics of the game "didn't work out the way they wanted." But he added organizers "tried to do something that hadn't been done before, so let's give them respect and credit for trying" (AP, 8/23). In Boston, Ben Volin wrote it is "simply amazing" that a $14B industry like the NFL has these "type of Mickey Mouse problems with the field." Volin: "Add in the fact that only two-thirds of the 33,000-seat stadium was full because of exorbitant ticket prices, and the Winnipeg preseason experiment was executed horribly" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/25).
SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE: In Houston, Brian Smith wrote he hopes changes will be made to the preseason "when the next CBA is locked in." Smith: "More joint practices. More open-to-the-public scrimmages for fans. Significantly less preseason." One would "think that the sport that rules our country would be smarter and safer" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8/24). The NFL requires season-ticket holders to purchase tickets to two preseason games as part of their package, and in Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel wrote only the NFL "can make such an illogical offer -- eight games, for the price of 10! -- and get away with it." Doyel: "But for how long?" It "feels like the league finally crossed the line" during this preseason. Doyel: "That nonsense in Winnipeg? That's not even the line." What fans "cannot forgive" is why the NFL "holds hostage its loyal fanbase by giving this ultimatum" to season-ticket holders (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 8/25).
BUCKING THE TREND: In St. Paul, Charley Walters wrote "limiting starters' play in preseason games has become general practice in the NFL," but that is "not the case with the Vikings." The team had a sellout crowd of 66,636 attend its preseason victory over the Seahawks on Aug. 18. The Vikings then "drew 66,698" for their win over the Cardinals "despite missing several starters" on Saturday (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/25).
