Roger Goodell Just Won't Let This 18-Game NFL Schedule Go

Roger Goodell was in London this weekend to promote the regular-season international tilt between the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While most of the headlines from the NFL Commissioners' media availability focused on the plausibility of an NFL team permanently relocating to London, an idea Goodell mostly rejected before suggesting the league may send over a "semi-regular" group of teams in an effort to grow the English fanbase for specific franchises rather than the league as a whole, the quote that didn't get as much press is what should be most worrisome to NFL fans.

Albert Breer, a reporter for NFL.com, added that Goodell qualified his statement by saying the league will not revisit the 18-game schedule until more safety concerns are addressed.

Why revisit it at all? Goodell barked about an 18-game schedule throughout the entire NFL lockout, obviously hoping the Players Association would cave on trading two preseason games for an expanded regular season. Goodell constantly framed the argument of an 18-game schedule as something the fans want, even though time and time again in his meetings and conference calls with season ticket holders, he was told that fans don't actually want more regular season games. Nobody does.

Nobody except Goodell, that is. Well, certainly some owners want more regular season games, because more regular season games means more regular season money. The narrative Goodell has tried, and failed, to sell to NFL fans is exactly the kind of PR spin you see in the quote above. "We play 20 games." No, you don't. The NFL plays a 16-game regular season with teams good enough to make the playoffs having the chance to play three or four more games to reach the Super Bowl. Goodell knows that while teams play 20 games before the playoffs, his top talent might see the field for half, if not significantly less, of those four preseason games. It's a blatant misrepresentation of the facts to tell fans "we play 20 games," and Goodell knows it.

Here's more of what Goodell told fans about playing an 18-game schedule, from the bottom of a transcription of quotes by the Chicago Sun Times:

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"Fans across the globe, but most importantly our season ticket holders, don't really think that preseason games live up to the standard of the NFL. I agree with them. So we're looking to see how we can improve that... By having those extra regular season games, not only do you improve the quality and the value to season ticket holders, you also make it easier for us to bring more games internationally. So it's a big plus for fans here, and in Europe and throughout the globe."

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American fans refused to swallow this nonsense, so Goodell took the spin abroad, trying to convince anyone who will listen that 18 games are for the fans and not just his bottom line. The spin is quite unbelievable. Goodell actually tried to win support in the failed fight for an 18-game schedule by telling fans in London that more regular season games could mean more football for them? Goodell will not stop searching the planet until he can convince someone, even fans who only get one to watch one live game each year, that playing 18 games is a good idea.

It is fine that Goodell is trying to pitch this idea to the London fans, and it's actually not a terrible plan to use an expanded regular season to play more games outside of the United States, which certainly should include more games in Mexico and Canada before shipping teams to England, but Goodell shouldn't be doing it with such blatant disregard for public sentiment in America.

Goodell is right that fans across the globe don't really think that preseason games live up to the standard of the NFL, and that's why fans don't think they should be forced to pay for those games as part of their season-ticket packages, a point Goodell has consistently sidestepped. NFL fans are gouged by the gameday experience, especially when you include how much money some teams can get away with charging for parking, food and seat licenses on top of the regular game tickets. When Goodell asked fans what the league could do to help make the season-ticket experience better, they said to get rid of the preseason games from their packages. That was the top priority for NFL fans who have no interest in spending the money on games that don't matter.

Rather than trying to help save the fans some money to make their overall experience as season-ticket holders better, Goodell took their comments and spun them to meet his agenda. Fans hate the preseason and don't want to pay for those tickets…so let's make those games actually count as part of the regular season! That will suddenly make people more able to afford to go to the games!

It's terrible. Not only is the 18-game schedule conversation completely misplaced at a time when the league should be focused on the safety of its players who can barely make it through a 16-game slate as it is, to spin the idea that an 18-game schedule is in the best bang for the fan-fed buck is patently unfair. Getting rid of two preseason games helps the players and the fans, and Goodell knows that.

The thing is, converting those games into regular season match-ups will get them off local TV on random weekday nights and put them on national TV as part of an even bigger package to sell to networks. The 18-game schedule has never been about the fan experience. It's about making more money for Goodell and his owners.

If you were like me and thought the 18-game plan was on life support with the new collective bargaining agreement, it looks like Goodell will keep spanning the globe until he finds someone who doesn't think pulling the plug on the idea is the right thing to do. If Europe doesn't buy it, there are four billion people in Asia Goodell might be able to convince. With an expanded regular season, it should be super easy to get teams to play those extra games over there.