Murphy against expanding schedule to 18 games
Posted by on July 24, 2012 – 12:57 pm
In his remarks to the media following Tuesday’s shareholders meeting, Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy said he has changed his stance on the possibility of the league expanding the regular-season schedule to 18 games.
Murphy said during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with the players in 2011, he was in favor of converting two preseason games into regular-season games, making the 20-game season a 2-18 split, rather than the current 4-16. But he’s no longer in favor of such a change.
“I couldn’t support a move to 2-and-18 now,” Murphy said. “With all the focus on player health and safety, it would be really hard to do that.”
Murphy suggested he would support eliminating two preseason games and keeping the regular season at 16, but he acknowledged the challenge there is the lost revenue for the league. He added that it’s debatable whether reducing the preseason by two games would have any impact on player health and safety, because he said a team’s starters might play the same amount of preseason snaps in those two games that they do now in four. Also, that type of reduced preseason might not provide enough time for teams to develop and evaluate their young talent, particularly if starters would then cram their four games of preseason snaps into those two contests.
“But those are the things we have to look at,” Murphy said, “what we can do to make the game as safe as possible for our players.”
Tags: games, mark murphy, preseason, schedule, shareholders
Posted in Packers.com Blog | 7 Comments »
7 Responses
to “Murphy against expanding schedule to 18 games”
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.
By Jay on Jul 24, 2012 | Reply
I love the 4 Pre-Season games because it gives rookies, undrafted players, chances to let themselves shine a little, and in two games, 8 quarters (and of course 18 reg. games), isn’t going to give everyone that chance.
By Howard Paley on Jul 24, 2012 | Reply
I am against the textending 2 games to season schedule. Too many injuries during preseason. I believe the Packers lost to the Super Bowl Giants, because the amount of injuries the Packers had the end of the season, and through the playoffs.
Howard Paley
By Cali Packers Fan on Jul 24, 2012 | Reply
Last season injuries wasn’t really an issue. The Pack lost because McCarthy sat Rodgers. Rodgers was rusty in that game. When you have that much momentum goin’ into the playoffs, sitting a red hot QB is a no no. That’s just my opinion.
Cali Packers Fan
By BIG CHEESE on Jul 25, 2012 | Reply
The game is much too physical and violent to add two more regular season games. The result will more than likely be more injuries, and shorten the careers for players.
Has anyone heard any more about the possibility of eliminating kickoffs? That will take even more away from the excitement of the game. How would Super Bowl XXXI have ended without the contributions of Desmond Howard?
By Earl on Jul 25, 2012 | Reply
The CFL has a 2-18 schedule currently, and has for a long time. The 2 preseasons games doesn’t help any of the teams develop young talent in the CFL. The starters play most of the preseason snaps, and then the young guys just seem to wait for an injury to allow them into the game. Then they are terrible and everyone just accepts that they are learning. I was 100% in favor of an 18 game NFL schedule, but reflecting on what I don’t like about the CFL has soured me and I’ll stick with the 4-16 schedule.
By Chad on Jul 26, 2012 | Reply
How about expanding the roster along with increasing the number of games? Unions are supposed to be about increasing money for their employees. That would obviously mean that more employees and more revenue would be a win-win.
By Bruce on Jul 26, 2012 | Reply
Cali Packers Fan
Actually, it had nothing to do with Rodgers being rusty. We fumbled 3 times and had 9 dropped passes. We don’t have those fumbles and actually catch the ball and we have actual offensive rythm. I bet we score 30 to 40 and Giants would have had 17.
Nothing to do with sitting AR.