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Sports seasons too long?
VikingDude
Posts: 1,303 ✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
I'm just going to come out and say it - some sports seasons are too long.
I'm not an NBA fan nor an NHL fan, but I have to think one of the reasons for the popularity of the NFL is the shorter season. It seems ridiculous that both the NBA and NHL seasons last 8 MONTHS. Let that sink in.
They both started mid-October and both finals game 7 are scheduled June 18. So called "Winter" sports almost lasting until July just seems outlandish and probably too long to gain casual fans.
By comparison, MLB is 7 months and NFL is just about 5 months. And of course all of these don't include preseason/exhibition games.
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No!!!
You gotta understand that alot of it has to do with the massive revenue for state and federal governments, the amount of money Sports teams bring in is in the billions, it's such a huge money maker they want to make it go on for as long as they can, adding the 17th game to the NFL season added millions of dollars to the bucket
Imo, the NBA regular season is too long but so are the playoffs which usually run about two months in length on top of that 8 month regular season mentioned above. In 2022 Boston started their playoffs on 4/17 and finished 6/16 while playing a total of 24 out of 28 possible games. Those other 4 games could have added another 1-2 weeks on top of that 2 months.
I know that there's been talk around the league about lowering the # of regular season games with so many teams & players setting up some type of load management schedule where most players,especially the stars, are healthy come playoff time.
Getting both the team & players agreeing to less games would be very difficult,imo.
Perkdog hit it right on the head,its all about money, from both sides. Less revenue for the owners would eventually mean they'd want to pay out less money to the players and I just don't see the player's association agreeing to that. I'm guessing it would be the same in the other major sports leagues.
I was listening to STR right around when the NBA/NHL seasons ended and they were comparing the number of players in both leagues who played in every 2022-23 regular season game. The NHL had 116 compared to the NBA having just 10.
With the NBA its kind of somewhat understandable when you have some players making upwards of 40-50M.
You want to guarantee that you have them close to 100% come playoff time but when you see teams doing the same with players from the back end of their rotation it does seem to be overkill at times. It also sucks for fans though paying what they do to go see their favorite players and find out its one of their load management nights.
I don't follow the NHL so I don't know what their pay scale is compared to the NBA but I would hope that all of those players playing in every game receive some type of GP incentive. That 116 number is pretty impressive when you factor in all of the nagging/minor injuries that players deal with yet that # of players still came to work every single day ready to play.
Here are the number of players from both leagues who played in every game going back 20-40yrs.
NBA:
2022-23 10 players
2002-03 46 players
1992-93 43 players
1982-83 40 players
NHL:
2022-23 116 players
2002-03 73 players
1992-93 (84 games schedule) 45 played all 84 games, 93 played at least 82g
1982-83 (80 games schedule) 64 played in all 80 games.
Again,that 116 number is very impressive,imo.
Eric
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Just wait, sooner or later football will be a year round sport.
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They been trying since before the USFL days I think, leagues just can't compete with NFL
Obviously not other than college which is electric. USFL currently is unwatchable for me, XFL if a couple QBs were better and they ditched that horrendous Vegas spray painted field can be fun here and there. I do think at least the XFL will improve if they can keep going though. Theres a lot of really rusty players that came back to play and even an NFL signing. If the league keeps going they should get a lot more guys right out of college that didnt get signed or recently cut NFL guys and the quality of play should improve. Itll never match the NFL or top college games talent wise, but it has a chance of being a good product
Eh, it has a chance for reasons you stated but so didn't the other start up leagues that folded.
NFL & College is all I will watch for football
I pretty much agree. College is by far my favorite with the atmosphere and the irrationally of college football fans which is always humorous. If one of the XFL or USFL could improve the product I'd watch but I think itll take them some time to get there. The XFL seems to be timed a little better for the part of the year they play. but wont go out of the way for it. USFL is currently on but Im finding the college softball regionals and meaningful college baseball games much more entertaining to watch instead
It’s almost there with the USFL. Unfortunately I just can’t get interested in it. I watch a game for a while, but I can’t get enthused for any team. Some of the reason might be because few of the teams play in the cities for which the teams are named. Another might be the empty stands. I wonder how long Fox will continue to subsidize it?
If you have been to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, there is a room full of professional football leagues that tried and failed. The American Football League is currently the only one that made it over time.
MLB and NBA seasons are def way too long. It's nuts. NFL is too short. I say get rid of the 3 exhibition NFL games and make the NFL season 20 games long. NFL Exhibition Games are the worst product offered ever.
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I know we would like more NFL football, but we need to think of the players too. Howie Long summed it up pretty well when the NFL lengthened the season from 14 to 16 games. The longer season wears players out and makes them more susceptible to serious, maybe career ending injuries. It’s a high contact sport where there is only so much a player can take.
Doing away with the exhibition games would take away the tune up period when players prepare for the season. It would also make it harder for the young guys to show what they have under game conditions.
MLB has to be that long, they really dont get that many days off. NBA takes a lot of days off and tries its best to avoid going head to head with certain things like the NFL and March Madness etc. I would even go as far as saying the NBA season is too long simply because it doesnt matter. If you dont have superstars you arent going to the playoffs, its by far and away the most predictable sport where barring major injuries you already know whats going to happen in the regular season. The players know it too hence the regular season they dont really play much defense and it often just looks like a 3 point contest with the league averaging 115 points per team per game this season. Theyll never do it but they could play a 15 game season and it wouldnt make any difference
It always comes down to the almighty dollar.
I do agree with you about the superstars part,you aren't winning the championship without having superstars in the NBA. That being said,since the NBA started the play-in tournament,many more teams are trying to get into the playoffs regardless of having superstar players or not,even when they know that they're likely not getting out of the first round. (Miami is about to make the Finals as a P-I team.)
Before the play-in was created many of the middling teams would just try tanking when there was a legit stud(s) at the top of the draft and even this year with Victor Wembanyama coming out as arguably one of the top 5 prospects in NBA history many of those same teams tried making the playoffs over tanking. A good 5-6 of this year's lottery teams were in play-in mode right up till seeing they weren't getting in, then went into tank mode very late in the season.
Its honestly kind of weird,the NBA creates extra games to make the season longer for those play-in teams and once they're played they don't officially count as season or playoff games.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
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Absolutely too long. The load management in the NBA makes me throw up. You could travel to see the Lakers play in Portland......spend $700 for 2 decent seats, your child has his Lebron James jersey on and here is the starting lineup for the Lakers:
Bill Jones
Wayne Thomas
Lonnie Walker
Jarred Vanderbilt
Austin Reeves
Pretty damn solid example
IIRC there was a Warriors road game early in the season at New Orleans where they sat 4 of their 5 starters in Curry,Thompson,Green & Wiggins. Their season didn't start off well after just winning the Finals months before and I doubt that all 4 players were load management but still,it goes back to your point. some family likely spent good money to see the defending champs come to town and missed out on seeing all of the best players on the team.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
yessssssssssss
-Chicago Bears
Galixico,...Old Buddy Buddy, I felt the same way about the Rams last season..... Could Someone just turn off the lights so we can all go home?!?!
I think it's going to be a repeat performance next season.....
The only thing the Rams have going for them is that they're in the same division as the Kyler Murray Cardinal juggernaut......😉
It's going to be a race to the basement in 2023!
The worst part???
One of my sons just moved from Utah to the Phoenix area this year.....So,.....The Lovely Mrs. Hydrant™ is excited because now we can go to all the Rams home games and when they aren't in town we can go to the Cardinals games AND! see the grandkids!....
It's a TWOFER!!!!
I can't wait.......700 mile round trip for that?
No problem......
I Drive....
She Sleeps....
NO PROBLEM....
They have tried to do somethings but you still have guys who are supposed to be the face of the league flopping because someone was to close to them and brushed them and they really have the control.
Miami does have some guys too so its not like they came out of the clouds. An "MVP" sat out games
Its a hard product to watch currently when realistically all you need is 2-3 guys and them be healthy. Aside from the NHL and a goalie taking over (NHL is doing a lot to stop that), you really dont have to do much in the NBA other than pay people to win