A suggested future NFL schedule?

[PuntJake]

the nfl wants to add more games overseas. fans don't want their teams to lose home games. it isn't fair to the team or the fans.

most fans might agree that preseason is too long. many want the regular season extended not only in overall length (weeks) but also in number of games.

my suggestion to appease the masses.....

1. cut the preseason to 3 games. add the cut game to the regular season extending it to 17 games. this only adds 1 game to the length of the regular season.

2. add an extra bye week to the season giving each team two bye weeks.

these two changes extend the regular season by two weeks. but one of those weeks is in place of the week 4 preseason so the overall football schedule only grows by 1 week in total length of time from preseason to the superbowl.

now..... what to do that that extra 17th game? it would change the 8 home game/8 away game dynamic, right? NO! here's what you do....

add one week for each team on a neutral, overseas site. that's right! the league wants more games overseas. this is the opportunity to expand the league not only to england but world wide! ALL 32 teams would play one game each season at one of many possible sites world wide.

england

Ireland

france

germany

italy

spain

belgium

poland

russia

egypt

Dubai, UAE

south africa

austrailia

japan

brazil

chile

these are suggestions, others may be better suited. maybe canada? of course multiple games could be played in multiple cities in one country such as england, france, spain etc..... instead of spreading out across all of europe or the globe.

this opens the sport up to the world and doesn't rob the teams of home games with us the american home fans. it also makes it fair as each team will have to travel abroad for a game and feel the effects on its team and travel schedule within the regular season.

16 overseas games would start in week 2 or 3 and continue with 1 game each week throughout the season. all teams still maintain 8 home and away games.

the bye weeks should be separated within the season with each team being required to start the season with 3 games, and end the season with 3 games, and have a minimal 4 games during the middle of the season between bye's. otherwise, bye's may come early or late or have minimal games between or play many games between their two bye's.

the biggest flaw, and it just so happens to be the one point that bugs me the most about extending the season past 16 games is what it does to current records. obviously long time regular season records will be broken by adding an extra game's worth of stats to the regular season but this has happened before when the season was expanded in the past from 14 to 16 games.

i hate how now there is one game overseas. i hear there is likely to be more. but this will just rob teams and fans of a home game. i believe expanding the schedule in this manner accomplishes the goals of the league by allowing world wide expansion and exposure to create interest in other countries which may in turn lead to future leagues in other countries such as NFL Europe, Africa, or South America. This expansion to make all teams play a game overseas also makes it fair to all teams.

and most importantly of all, it preserves our beloved 8/8 season here in the states and gives us a longer regular season as well as shortening the preseason.

final suggestion... instead of adding a week for the second bye, eliminate a second preseason game and keep the length of the season as is by having only 2 preseason games and using the other two weeks for the second bye and overseas game. this keeps the playoffs and superbowl where they are during the course of the year. not sure if this is a good alternative as a 2 game preseason might not be long enough to accomplish preseason goals but it sure seems 4 games is a waste. i think losing a preseason game for a bye gives the team much more in the way of rest during a tough regular season.

i think this is a pretty damned good idea although i am sure it will be ripped apart by most, so have at it! :cornut:

[PhillyB]

Interesting idea. It'd take years to implement though I'm sure, simply because of the need to orchestrate proper football fields for those games to be played in. Also, as much as it would make sense to spread the games out equally around the globe, from a marketing standpoint, it would be best to put the games where they'd actually sell. Three or four games in the U.K. is more likely than even one in Dubai.

[Kevin Greene]

Any team that can't sell out its home games, gets shipped overseas for a game the following year.

[jasonluckydog]

How about this idea they bring back Euro football and leave the NFL alone.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

How about both franchises give up an away game to play overseas?

[PuntJake]

i agree that some of the countries listed are stretching it. was just looking through lists of some places involved in world cup. if something this large was implemented, i am sure it would be heavily concentrated in europe to begin with and maybe expand to other countries.

also, agree with nfl europe and i think expansion of our nfl to europe with more than one game per year and in more than one country would eventually lead to a true league there and allow our teams to remain home in the future. it might also set up a world bowl where the superbowl winner of each league have a playoffs for true world champion.