Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

I wanted to post this in here bc. i looked everywhere and could find a link to prove it. I heard on Total Access that the leauge could be considering playing conf. championship games on neutral sites like the super bowl, taking away any "homefeild advantage". I cant believe they are even CONSIDERING doing this!! I mean its bad enough you take weather out of the superbowl but the Conf championships too? this is rediculous i wanted to make sure that everyone felt this way... I cant even come up with 1 REAL advantage for doing this.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

That would be maybe the worst thing ever. If this is true, for every good thing Godell has done so far, he seems to have another idea that just makes me want to clock him.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

Horrible idea if it's true.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

So that would mean that your reward for ending the regular season with the best record in your conference would be a single home playoff game and a slightly nicer locker room in one of about 6 possible sites for the championship game. Sounds like a really swell plan, Rog.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

I feel like this rule would probably also favor the NFC in terms of useable sites a bit too much to be fair to the rest of the league.

Assuming that the championship games are played at sites that represent the conference, meaning that you won't have the NFC game in an AFC city, there are more possible sites for the NFC to use. This is also assuming you want to try to eliminate the weather as a factor, like they do with the Super Bowl.
For the NFC the following teams' stadiums could host: Arizona, Atlanta, Dallas (once the new stadium is built), Detroit, Minnesota, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Tampa Bay.
For the AFC you have: San Diego, Indy, Houston, Miami, and Jacksonville.

I don't know if this is a big deal, but I would think that it's something they have to consider.
Of course the new commissioner's office will probably just schedule all playoff games and the Super Bowl in other countries by the year 2014, so then it won't really matter at all.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

In principle this is not a bad idea because home field advantage gives teams such a huge advantage. And if you're approaching the game as a championship game then you should play it on a neutral site. I think you'll most certainly separate the really good teams and those that just get by. The only thing I don't like about it is that the home team fans won't be able to go to the game easily.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

[quote=Gmanc711;313282]That would be maybe the worst thing ever. If this is true, for every good thing Godell has done so far, he seems to have another idea that just makes me want to clock him.[/quote]


that is bascially what i was thinking

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

Horrible idea.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

No way! I hope that NEVER happens! Talk about robbin the fans!

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

[quote=saden1;313296]In principle this is not a bad idea because home field advantage gives teams such a huge advantage. And if you're approaching the game as a championship game then you should play it on a neutral site. I think you'll most certainly separate the really good teams and those that just get by. The only thing I don't like about it is that the home team fans won't be able to go to the game easily.[/quote]

Isn't it the point to get homefield advantage when you have the better record? What incentive does a team have to even show up for games if they have zero incentive to win after clinching their division? Imagine a team from a bad conference who has the division won by week 11 or 12. They would have 4 games with no incentive to play to win outside of pride. That makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

Stupid idea...it would erase any rewards for having a better season than your opponent.

It would probably take away a week or 2 of good games at the end of the regular season. A team that has clinched a playoff berth still plays for home field advantage. Under the proposed plan, they'd have nothing to play for and just rest everyone earlier than ever before.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

I am pretty sure the owner's would shoot this one down pretty quick. Not a very good idea.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

[QUOTE=Mc2guy;313339]Isn't it the point to get homefield advantage when you have the better record? What incentive does a team have to even show up for games if they have zero incentive to win after clinching their division? Imagine a team from a bad conference who has the division won by week 11 or 12. They would have 4 games with no incentive to play to win outside of pride. That makes no sense to me whatsoever.[/QUOTE]

If winning the SB isn't enough of an incentive I don't know what is. The only teams that have the luxury of sitting their players right now are those who already have 12+ wins and have already clinched a bye week...and often times these teams do in fact sit their players out which kinda washes the argument that teams will get complacent and not play towards the end of the season. The first round bye week is a huge incentive to make sure you win more games than the rest of your conference.

All I'm saying is there is a huge deal of strategy involved if the championship game was played in the neutral site too. Also, this kind of structure works for the NCAA so I don't see how it's a totally bad thing.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

[QUOTE=Buster;313340]Stupid idea...it would erase any rewards for having a better season than your opponent.

It would probably take away a week or 2 of good games at the end of the regular season. A team that has clinched a playoff berth still plays for home field advantage. Under the proposed plan, they'd have nothing to play for and just rest everyone earlier than ever before.[/QUOTE]


The last two weeks of the season have alway been about teams trying to make the playoffs or those who are trying to clinch a first round bye week. I don't see the excitement of the last two weeks going away if the conf. championship game is played at a neutral site.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

Your making this out to be more than it is. Every year they shoot around a bunch of ideas to see what the owners think about them. Then out of all these ideas maybe a couple will take hold and will get talked about for a couple of years then fade out or get voted on. These guys are just making news, I could here one of the owners suggest this as the other owners boo and laugh at them.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

[QUOTE=firstdown;313392]Your making this out to be more than it is. Every year they shoot around a bunch of ideas to see what the owners think about them. Then out of all these ideas maybe a couple will take hold and will get talked about for a couple of years then fade out or get voted on. These guys are just making news, I could here one of the owners suggest this as the other owners boo and laugh at them.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps but from a business standpoint it is not a bad idea as it will enable the NFL to create mini-SBs. And from competitiveness standpoint it's not a bad idea either.

Ultimately this idea will be shot down because of the fans. People don't like change.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

[quote=saden1;313396]Perhaps but from a business standpoint it is not a bad idea as it will enable the NFL to create mini-SBs. And from competitiveness standpoint it's not a bad idea either.

Ultimately this idea will be shot down because of the fans. People don't like change.[/quote]

I would actually argue that this is not a great business idea. The "neutral" site will likely not have anywhere near the number of box and luxury seats that the home team would have because they would likely be playing in a college stadium since it has to be a neutral site. Also, the home team would lose out on significant revenue, expecially big market northen teams like the skins, giants, chicago, that will never get to host a game due to climate.

Also, who gets the seats? Season ticket holders for the "home" team, or is it all up to grabs like the SB? The latter would REALLY stink since the superbowl is usually a lousy crowd since it is more about money than true fans.

I appreciate your position, but I stand by my opinion that this is a bad idea for both competitive, financial, and fan-centric reasons.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

If the new commish is actually thinking about this then he is going way overboard. Many of you will not agree with me, but in general I feel he is trying really hard to make changes and whatnot. If he keeps it up, it could be too much. There is a fine line between cleaning up the league, and turning into one of the Devil's associates like David Stern.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

That would just be dumb. No way that a logical group of people will ever change this.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

[QUOTE=Mc2guy;313429]I would actually argue that this is not a great business idea. The "neutral" site will likely not have anywhere near the number of box and luxury seats that the home team would have because they would likely be playing in a college stadium since it has to be a neutral site. Also, the home team would lose out on significant revenue, expecially big market northen teams like the skins, giants, chicago, that will never get to host a game due to climate.[/QUOTE]

Neutral site means site neutral to both teams. For example, if the game was between WAS and DAL the game could be played in Miami (the 'Fins stadium) or Indianapolis (Colts' stadium).

[QUOTE]Also, who gets the seats? Season ticket holders for the "home" team, or is it all up to grabs like the SB? The latter would REALLY stink since the superbowl is usually a lousy crowd since it is more about money than true fans.[/QUOTE]

Like I said in my first post, the biggest impact would be on the fans. Any serious discussion of change would have to remedy concerns of the fans whose team has home field advantage.

Re: Conf. Championship on neutral site?
 

No way will the owners go for this, or at least the owners with the real power. Do you think Jones or Snyder with the most lucrative sports franchises in the US and the world for that matter are going to give up all that $$$$$$$ if their teams make the conference title game and have to play in Tampa with a smaller seating capacity, etc. I don't think so. HOme field advantage throughout the playoffs is a major plus to teams vying for Mr. Lombari's trophy and should be given to the teams that have performed the best as a reward for thier excellence on the field. The NFL has already watered down their product way too much with the salary cap and the parody it has created