Quote:
Originally Posted by freddyg12
However, lets play devil's advocate, it's not just the owners that benefit from preseason revenue, its the players as well. That's what part of the recent cba negotiation was about, the nflpa wanted a higher % of team revenue. John Madden also made a good point the other night during the game, something like "so if a player gets hurt in practice, does that mean you don't practice anymore."
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Two things on these points: One, the owners could simply make up the lost revenue by adjusting the price of regular season game tickets. Granted, no one would like that, but ask those same people if they'd rather see their favorite star player be lost for the season to a torn ACL in a meaningless exhibition game.
And on the age-old "they can injure themselves in practice too!" argument: No practice can match the level of violence and risk of injury that actual game conditions can, when the opponent lining up against you has another team's uniform on. Not saying it can't happen in practice, but if or when it does, then the stars simply weren't aligned for that player, and it just wasn't his day.
By the way, there should only be two preseason games, shortened to 10 minutes per quarter, and no overtime. If it ends in a tie, so be it. The regular season stays as it is -- 16 games.