NFL may give incentives to prevent teams from tanking games

[WVRed]

Oops, sorry. I should've put one of these in my post because I was half kidding. There is speculation that Goodell keeps a Steelers sweatshirt in his closet, but I have no way of knowing. He lived and went to college in Pittsburgh, so I'm sure that's where the speculation comes from.

And I hate the idea of expanding the regular season to 18 games, if for no other reason it (again) distorts all the all-time season records.

Well, that and the NFL is losing one of the strongest fanbases after week 17. I'm also betting the NFL would have rather seen a team from New York in the playoffs as opposed to a team from Houston.

I hate the Steelers, but the only reason this is being mentioned is because the NFL is losing money with the Steelers sitting at home. Had the roles been reversed and the Steelers sat Roethlisberger the final week of the season, the argument would be that the Steelers have earned the right to lose that game.

[Yachtzee]

That's probably the best scenario. However, if you knew you already clinched a playoff berth is there a larger incentive to rest your players or to keep playing and risk injuries? Even if you're 15-1, there's no assurance you'll get a top seed. It's almost a disincentive for the top teams to play their starters since they don't know if they will be a top seed, a last seed or somewhere in-between.

It all depends on how you weight wins and any bonuses the teams get for wins 12-15. The key would be to set the respective weights and bonuses high enough so that winning 15 games significantly increases the chance of getting the top seed (or even 2 seed) over 14 games. If done correctly, I think it puts greater pressure on teams to go all out to win the most games. Otherwise, they risk the wrath of their respective fan bases for not doing enough to ensure that they got the 1 or 2 seed.

[George Foster]

Don't change anything. The team that has clinched a play-off birth has earned the right to play anybody they want.

If you are a team that has to depend on another team winning or losing to make the play-offs, you get what you get. If you as a team don't think this is fair, win more games.

The current NFL league is the best professional sports league in the world. It makes tons of money, and millions watch on TV and go to the games. Don't screw around with it.

[GAC]

I read where Selig called Goodell and told him to offer home field advantage for the Super Bowl?

[Roy Tucker]

They could give the home team the option of playing tackle or touch football.

[Newport Red]

Cut off beer sales for as long as the starters are on the sidelines.

[traderumor]

Cut off beer sales for as long as the starters are on the sidelines.

The Jets didn't sell beer at this Sunday's game.

[Yachtzee]

The current NFL league is the best professional sports league in the world. It makes tons of money, and millions watch on TV and go to the games. Don't screw around with it.

I think the English Premier League would beg to differ. The NFL gets very little play outside the US.

[GAC]

Cut off beer sales for as long as the starters are on the sidelines.

So you punish the fans even more? Not only do they not get to see their starters play..... but no beer???? :

[Newport Red]

Nothing like civil unrest to get the starters back on the field.

[Razor Shines]

If they are going to do this, the best idea I've heard is to make the last two or three games of the season divisional games. The game still may not always matter though.

[NJReds]

So you punish the fans even more? Not only do they not get to see their starters play..... but no beer???? :

They could refund 50% of the ticket price. But since they already charge season ticket holders full price for preseason games, I don't see that happening, either.

[Hoosier Red]

If they are going to do this, the best idea I've heard is to make the last two or three games of the season divisional games. The game still may not always matter though.

I think the last game of the season should always be a divisional game and every game should start at 3 PM.

This increases the odds that the final game of the season is meaningful and no one gets to see what someone else did earlier in the day.

[Razor Shines]

I think the last game of the season should always be a divisional game and every game should start at 3 PM.

This increases the odds that the final game of the season is meaningful and no one gets to see what someone else did earlier in the day.

Seems like a good idea, but I can't see the networks ever going for the "all games start at 3" idea. They'd lose out on too many viewers.

[Hoosier Red]

Probably true, although maybe you could rotate the games around the three networks (each network gets every game in one year) or make week 17 a part of the bidding process.