Each week sports reporters Matthew Lambert and Sam Thiel will face off on a hot topic in sports. The world of sports is changing quickly and constantly, but we want to slow it down and take a better look at the juiciest gossip, scandal, rumor or issue that is making headlines this week. Lambert and Thiel will take different sides and battle it out, telling you why you they are right.
This week’s topic: NFL Preseason
The calendar has officially turned to September, which means the NFL season is less than two weeks away. With the current NFL players sustaining season-ending injuries, the question about whether or not the NFL preseason should be diminished. This week, Matthew Lambert voices his opinion on the issue. Let’s talk about it…
(Recap by Sam Thiel)
Matthew Lambert/Winonan
The NFL preseason has frustrated fans, such as myself, for a long time. These “warm-up games” are trivial and dangerous. They have low attendance numbers, since no one, but maybe the players’ parents wants to see some undrafted, third-string kick returner get a shot at the NFL dream.
Why would a returning starter, who is coming off a successful or string of successful seasons in the past, need to play in a preseason game? If I’m an NFL team owner of the Denver Broncos, for example, why would I allow players like DeMarcus Ware, Peyton Manning, or Demaryius Thomas to play in these games when I’m paying them millions and I know they will draw players to the stadium?
It doesn’t make sense.
Injuries have always plagued preseason games. It’s basically a waiting game to see which star will become injured first. This is why fantasy football owners don’t like to draft until a week or so before the season. There is too much risk involved.
To play devil’s advocate, I see why the NFL does it: It makes them money. The Hall of Fame game this year drew more viewers than last year’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Football has its own class of profitability amongst the sports in the United States. Last year, during the regular season, the NFL continued to dominate the airways. It was the number one TV program watched for all 17 weeks. Thursday Night Football viewership increased 53 percent, measuring up to around $202.3 million for the entire season. So instead of just saying get rid of all the preseason games, it’s time for an alternative solution.
With the NFL coming under fire by current and former players about player safety, it’s time to revise this rule or else you will get players that could be future stars, like Chris Borland, retiring after one season. Frankly, I don’t understand why players don’t just refuse to play. If Aaron Rodgers told Mike McCarthy he didn’t want to play in any preseason games, do you really believe McCarthy would suspend him? No way. Player safety is the most important discussion in football right now. Adjusting the preseason games will help immensely.
So let’s compromise. Cut two preseason games for each team; make the Hall of Fame game count as one preseason game, rather than make teams play more than two preseason games a year. While everyone at the NFL would be screaming at me for losing them money, tack on one regular season game to make up for the loss in revenue.
Everyone wins.
Instead of dealing with extra point attempts, where and when the NFL Pro Bowl should take place, and whether teams with losing records that win their division should be able to make playoffs, let’s focus on protecting the health of players like Kelvin Benjamin and Jordy Nelson. The injuries aren’t done yet. NFL teams need to be more responsible. There are more important things than money on the line here.
