NFL Schedule Negotiations Offer Hope For Bucs Fans
November 14th, 2019
Bucs fans
Joe loves anything that might help the Bucs end their depressing playoff drought.
Who could have imagined that the Bucs clinching the NFC South crown with two games remaining in the 2007 season was the last time Tampa Bay would taste the postseason?
This brings Joe to the glorious news that the NFL is likely to avoid another lockout when its current labor agreement ends after the 2020 season. (Remember the 2011 lockout? Yeah, Joe filled these pages here daily.)
Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the NFL and the players union are nearing a new labor agreement and it could be just a couple of months away. The exciting byproducts, per the report, would be one more regular season game per team, cutting the preseason schedule, and expanding the playoffs to 14 teams, one additional per conference.
A 17-game regular season could mean that each team would play one neutral-site game per season, with some of those games to be held in London, Mexico City and potentially other international venues. Or teams simply could alternate seasons with eight or nine home games and continue to surrender home dates for international games.
A 14-team playoff field, whether implemented as part of the CBA or later, would mean that seven teams in each conference would qualify for the postseason instead of the current six. Only one team in each conference, rather than the current two, would receive a first-round playoff bye. There would be six opening-round playoff games leaguewide, instead of the current four, and one of them potentially would be played on a Monday night.
Owners view both the 17-game regular season and the expanded playoffs as revenue-boosting mechanisms that would be valuable in negotiating TV rights deals with the networks and would serve to offset revenue losses associated with reducing the preseason.
Joe loves the expanded postseason (too many tiebreakers now). And anything that might help the Bucs snap this January funk, hey, bring it on. You can never have too much hope.
But Joe is lukewarm on adding a game to the regular season; it will mess with the record books. Still, Joe’s has to keep it real. There’s nothing more fun than meaningful games, and the world didn’t end when the NFL jumped from a 14-game season to 16 in 1978.
November 14th, 2019 at 8:29 am
increase the salary cap and the number of players teams can have
Salary cap goes up every year. … Some teams manage it well. –Joe
November 14th, 2019 at 8:33 am
Do something like red shirting QB’s so they don’t count against the roster and can develop…skilled and NFL ready QB’s is a huge game quality issue in 2019
November 14th, 2019 at 8:38 am
There is no hope for bucs ….. as long as glazers are calling the shots basement titles, bad drafts and embarrassing football is all there is to look forward to. Anyone who believes otherwise is living in denial….. if nfl truly cared about quality product nfl would trade bucs franchise for a texas high school program. Not sure the high school kids will like playing in an empty stadium each week though…
November 14th, 2019 at 8:40 am
Can the Bucs negotiate to shorten their season????? The sooner that their god awful product is off the field the better!!!!!!!!!!!!! plus, when coaches are fired they will always get the jump to hiring new sacrificial lambs to be fired in another year or two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already knew!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 14th, 2019 at 8:48 am
“Soon each NFL team will annually receive $275 million in TV revenue.
RJS can be quarter filled during games and have bums sleeping inside the pirate ship and it would be meaningless ”
Kobe Faker
November 14th, 2019 at 9:05 am
Increase the season so the bucs are eliminated from the playoffs in mid November instead of early November.
November 14th, 2019 at 9:19 am
Hope is for suckers. If you are a Bucs fan you should know that by now.
November 14th, 2019 at 9:19 am
Being from Orlando, If I was the Glazers, I play that game in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl to re-ingage Central Florida
November 14th, 2019 at 9:26 am
Well….perhaps Ray Jay would qualify as a “neutral site”…..especially if we were playing the Bears, Giants or Packers…..
November 14th, 2019 at 9:31 am
It’d be nice if some of those neutral site games were held in US cities without NFL teams. Play a Bucs/Dolphins/Jags game in Orlando. Send Houston or Dallas to San Antonio. Surely there are pro-level college stadiums out there that could host a game. Bring the game to fans who may never otherwise get to attend an NFL game.
November 14th, 2019 at 9:33 am
Anything that shortens preseason gets my vote. Kinda sucks for young players on the bubble though. We can expect some seriously sloppy, penalty filled first 2 games of the season though.
November 14th, 2019 at 9:33 am
The RECORD BOOKS?? It used to be a 14 game season before it was a 16 game season… change happens
November 14th, 2019 at 9:35 am
The bigger news is that they are close to a new deal on the CBA. I thought for sure we would have a strike shortened season next year. Crazy concept these days, people working together for a common end.
November 14th, 2019 at 9:38 am
Need to expand the active roster from 46 to ???
November 14th, 2019 at 9:40 am
More football is good.
November 14th, 2019 at 9:57 am
And before that a 12-game season.
November 14th, 2019 at 10:45 am
They should change the draft too, make it a lottery for the the 18 teams that don’t make the playoffs. Each round should be individualized with its own lottery, so a team may have the 1st pick in round one but could end up with the 18th pick in round two so on and so forth. This would help prevent tanking, and give teams that just missed the playoff a chance at drafting an impact player early
November 14th, 2019 at 10:49 am
Why don’t the NFL scheduling a$$holesgive us some evening and night games while they are at it. Total BS to have just about all our home games at 1pm.
November 14th, 2019 at 10:50 am
you will have to increase every players pay by the equivalent of one game to do this as well.
so it will be a big jump in salary cap the year they implement this.
November 14th, 2019 at 11:02 am
Anglican Says:
November 14th, 2019 at 10:49 am
Why don’t the NFL scheduling a$$holesgive us some evening and night games while they are at it. Total BS to have just about all our home games at 1pm.
do you think the league wants this minor league $h!t$how on national tv / prime time games…. bucs are the least watched franchise is pro sports. hell giants have better ratings in tampa than the bucs do… i am assuming you were joking with your post.
November 14th, 2019 at 11:35 am
What I would like to see:
• 20 Game Season, adding three more division games plus the London game.
• Increased Rosters
• 2nd Bye week Both in opposite halves of the season.
• Teams get to choose one players to not count against the cap (such as the QB)
November 14th, 2019 at 11:35 am
More games for more money?
Sounds like a “Quid pro quo.”
November 14th, 2019 at 11:52 am
Read a comment on pft about how the owners should split the TV revenues between wins/losses (they won’t) but I’d like the idea!!
November 14th, 2019 at 12:37 pm
How are the new players going to be fairly evaluated? Always been my concern with the anti-preseason crowd.
November 14th, 2019 at 12:45 pm
who give a F about the record books?
1 more regular season game + less preseason + more playoffs = WINNING for anyone who is a fan of the sport
November 14th, 2019 at 1:10 pm
“14 games, 16 game, 17 games
records integrity?
The NFL doesnt care
WE ARE IN THE INFANCY STAGE OF A NEW “NFL PRODUCT”
NJ is on their 2nd year of Gambling tax revenue and PA will get their numbers end of the year. With those tax revenue numbers from legalized gambling, in 5 years there will be over 40 states that will legalize sports betting
gambling = football = tv ratings
in 5 years there is no doubt NFL will be in London
not for the crooked tooth Brits to wear Jameis jersey or fill their lousy soccer stadium
BUT TV REVENUE AND GAMBLING TO LONDON/EUROPE
*There will be financial incentives to play and coach across the pond”
Kobe Faker
November 14th, 2019 at 6:39 pm
More games plus more postseason teams makes regular season games worth a lot less. Look at the freaking NBA. Like half the league gets in the playoffs. 82 games. One loss means nothing. One NFL game is as important as five NBA games and 10 baseball games.
November 14th, 2019 at 7:27 pm
Unbelievable
Agree with your take totally.
November 14th, 2019 at 8:13 pm
There are so many game breaking rule changes that record books are meaningless. Not like you can compare stats between now and even just a decade ago.
November 15th, 2019 at 11:17 am
I think the neutral site game should be a live broadcast lottery, where each team picks a week and a location from a hat … whoever picks the same, that’s the matchup. It would be fun for fans.