Will/should the NFL move to a 17 game regular season?
The NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, stated on April 26, 2007 that the NFL has been thinking about adding a 17th game to the regular season. He said that if this idea goes through, they would probably drop a pre-season game. This option sounds like a good idea, but is it from an economic viewpoint?
There are many factors that will determine if an additional game will be a good idea or not. For instance, an increase in regular season games might only increase games in foreign countries. If this happens it will add profit to the NFL, but not to the individual teams and fans. If the extra game is played in the states, the fans will benefit by being able to watch another game, the players will benefit by getting a much higher salary in a regular game compared to a pre-season game, and the franchises will benefit by making a better game-day profit. The only problem is if the players’ salary increase were to be higher than the game-day profit. If this would happen, everyone would still profit except for the franchises. This probably will not happen because the demand for football is so high, that only one more game will still have the same demand as having a 16 regular season schedule.
So, should there be an additional regular season game? I say yes, but make it be in the United States, so we all can benefit from it.
1 comment:
I agree with Nick. I think an additional game, if played in the US, would benefit players, franchises, and fans. If it were played outside the US, the teams wouldn't be bringing in any additional money. Instead, they would be spending a lot more in order to travel to another country for one game. However, I wouldn't suggest adding more than a few games to the schedule. If so, the demand will drop. For example, the MLB has so many games that there isn't a high demand for tickets. Fans know that they have plenty of opportunities to see their team play. By keeping your schedule reasonable, the fans demand will continue to be high.
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