Money. It always comes down to money. The NFL lockout inches closer every day that the NFL Players Association and the owners can’t come to an agreement. The current collective bargaining agreement runs out on March 4.
As a fan, they each have a legitimate gripe with the other. The biggest problem I see with the conversations is that the owners want an 18 game schedule. Currently, the NFL has a 16 game schedule.
If the owners expect the players to play an extra two games, I think they are really threatening the integrity of the game. The NFL has the greatest football talent in the world, hands down. With the addition of two more games, they will have to add more roster spots to every team which will water the talent pool down even further. Think about the number of players that go on injured reserve every year. This past football season through 10 weeks, there had already been 311 players placed on IR. If you add an extra two games, you can only envision that number will go up. Not only will it diminish the product on the field for the playoffs that year, but it will also shorten the career of every player. The longevity of a running backs career right now is only about eight years in their prime. After that, their numbers go way down. One example of that would be Edgerrin James, former Colts and Cardinals running back. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry the first seven years of his career and only 3.4 ypc over the next three. Shaun Alexander, former Seahawks running back, would be another prime example. Alexander averaged 4.6 ypc the first six years of his career and only 3.1 over the next three years. With two additional games ever year, players’ careers will be shorter. For every four years that a player plays, they will play an extra eight games a year.
I just see it killing one of the greatest sports in the United States. Fans argue that they could watch football year round and still not get sick of it. I would be one of those people, but one has to know that it is not logical for a player to put their body through that kind of additional punishment. It is way too much to ask. You could argue that the 16 game schedules are too much for a human body. 311 players? That equates to 10 players per team. By the time the playoffs or Super Bowl roll around, the teams are down to their second or third strings in some cases. So, let me ask you, is it really worth it?
Mike Dobbs
Communications Studies
Class of 2012
