Quote:
Originally Posted by Buffalo Bob
Anybody other than me old enough to remember when preseason was 6 games long? I think that was a little over 40 years ago.
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I do. In those days, a lot of players held off-season jobs simply because they didn't make much, the
average salary was 27,500. (for comparison, the average salary of a new college graduate was between 8K -12K).
Those were the days when there wasn't year round conditioning, OTA's, and 24/7 coverage even in the offseason. Training camp was when players got "conditioned." Now, the expectation is that you are preparing year-round are coming into camp at pro level physical condition. Plus, with all the OTA's, players should have already learned the scheme basics and camp is the time to fully implement the playbook.
Just a completely different game from back then. The huge influx of money into the league through mega-media deals changed the game completely.