How the NFL Can Improve Its Preseason Product

To improve the product of its preseason games, the NFL must seriously consider lowering ticket prices and removing at least one of the four scheduled matchups for each of the 32 teams every August. 

However, such requests must also come with a caveat: Although there would be an elimination of one preseason game (and money-making opportunity), no additional games can be added on to the regular season. 

The idea sounds like a reasonable answer to what ails the preseason, which features a four-game stretch that occasionally wanes in watchability, especially by the time the final game is played. However, the NFL is only now agreeing to look at the exhibition games and address any possible changes. 

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the league is planning to "study and examine" the 2013 preseason in hopes that changes can provide a "better product" for future exhibition schedules. 

"The NFL will look at how much starters play, how the lineups are configured and fan reaction, particularly with the fourth and final preseason game," Rapoport reported. 

Lowering the cost of tickets is also being discussed. Rapoport implies that a shift would be implemented across the entire NFL landscape, with all 32 teams agreeing to reduce the price point of preseason tickets.

However, the owners would have to pass a vote for such a change to take effect. 

Making the games more affordable—or maybe more importantly, appropriately priced—would be a fine start to fixing the preseason. 

With the exception of the third game, which many clubs treat as a dress rehearsal for Week 1, teams generally play stars and starters only briefly. While this provides ample opportunity to judge the talent of a full 90-man roster, it does affect the quality of play and, in turn, the quality of the product fans are paying to see. 

Yet fans, who are so obviously getting ripped off in this scenario, continue to pay full price for these games. 

What's worse, season-ticket holders are being forced to pay for preseason games. In all 32 NFL cities, the purchase of preseason tickets is a prerequisite to securing a season's hold on a seat. In choosing not to pay full price for a game or two on the exhibition schedule, buyers risk losing their regular-season tickets. 

You don't have to be educated in business or economics to understand that these ticket holders are getting a raw deal. 

Lowering the prices would help solve part of this problem.

While teams aren't likely to do away with the requirement of season-ticket holders having to purchase preseason games, a more reasonable sales pitch would help close the gap between the product on the field and the price of admission. 

An even easier way to improve the preseason product would involve cutting a game from the schedule. 

In today's NFL, teams play four preseason games. Starters appear for two or three series in Game 1, a quarter or so in Game 2, upwards of an entire half in Game 3 and only a few plays in Game 4. 

Overall, a guaranteed starter on any team might expect to see a full game of action over the course of one preseason in the current setup.

The four-game schedule does have its benefits. 

By allowing more live-game reps, coaches and decision-makers have more film to work with when deciding on a final 53-man roster. Even the most unlikely players are given a legitimate chance to prove they belong on a team. 

The dress rehearsal in Game 3 also allows for teams to game-plan like a regular-season week and then make the necessary adjustments in preparation for the official games. 

However, the drawbacks of the four-game schedule are just as apparent. 

No team wants to see a major injury during a meaningless game, and the current structure allows for four different opportunities for a season-changing injury to occur. 

The four games also water down the product; teams have more leeway to pick and choose when to play the starters, the players most fans are actually paying big bucks to see.

In a three-game scenario, fans would likely be treated to more reps featuring the players who will actually be on the team come September. Players of greater talent eating up more minutes would obviously result in an improved on-field display.

Slicing a game from the schedule would also reduce injuries, which goes hand in hand with the heightened awareness of player safety that the NFL has been stressing. 

That said, if a preseason game is eliminated, the NFL can't respond by tacking on another game to the regular season. 

According to Rapoport, the NFL is looking at a schedule format that includes two or three preseason games and 17 or 18 regular-season games. Of course, the motivation here would be that taking away a preseason game can serve as a compromise to the players in exchange for more money-making opportunities in the regular season.

A 16-game schedule is already long enough. Any adjustments to the preseason shouldn't pose a problem for the product that really matters. 

NFL fans are going to devour the preseason regardless of whether changes are made. According to NBC, the Hall of Fame Game featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins drew a 6.7 overnight rating, which is higher than what Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final received. 

There's little doubt that Americans love the game. 

However, that reality doesn't mean the NFL couldn't make small changes to the preseason to make it a better experience for its fans. Two relatively easy adjustments—lowering ticket prices and eliminating one of the four games—would go a long way toward accomplishing this task.