Why does the NFL play way less games than other sports?
In: 12
That answer seems obvious but then I remember that tidbit that NFL games are a grand total of 11 minutes of action total.
A lot of answers relating to the high impact nature of football, but there are also legal and logistical issues. With regards to the NFL, US federal law practically prohibits televising NFL games on Friday nights after 6PM and on Saturdays. The NFL earns most of its revenue from TV, so that takes 2 days of the week away already. Then you compound that with the logistical issue…roster size. The NFL has 53 man rosters, of whom 46 dress on game day. And all the players need their equipment, which probably amounts to a full truckload on its own. It’s a bit more baggage than 26 baseball players or 15 basketball players might need. And of course, while the Jets and Giants might have a short trip to play each other, that’s not the case for most teams. They’re traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles for games, even overseas for some games. So while you might physically be able to move 46 players from place to place in order to play 2 or 3 games a week, you couldn’t move all the crap they need in a cost effective manner. College teams don’t quite have the same TV broadcasting issue, but their logistical problems can be worse since they’ll dress as many as 70-100 players for games. And that’s only the teams’ logistical challenges. College football stadiums often seat 100k+ spectators. College towns can double in population on game days from all the people coming to games. That’s a big strain on police, hospitals, etc. Once a week is probably the limit for them too.
Also since American football is primarily an outdoor sport weather plays a big factor in scheduling. If you started the season earlier you’d be dealing with a lot of places from Florida up through the Midwest still having temperatures near or above 100F and if you end the season later you’ll have a lot more places with temperatures at or below freezing. If you converted all the stadiums to doomed stadiums you could probably get a few extra games out of players/teams for the right amount of money but the cost to replace roughly half of the stadiums might just be too high.
Even at the high school level where the game is simplified, teams spend hours and hours preparing and customizing a strategy for each opponent. Everything that happens on a football field is coordinated between all 11 players and probably changes based on all 11 opposing players, so implementing any new tactics takes time and energy. Executing an offensive strategy is more like trying to perform a musical while 11 people are actively trying to sabotage you.
Basically, it takes a lot of planning, teaching, and studying. Even if you were magically fresh after each game, football still wouldn’t be football if you played more frequently.
Everyone saying “It’s a violent sport” … yeah, it is. So’s hockey and they play 82 games a year.
80 game seasons would end up killing every player in the NFL. The Super Bowl would be played by the janitors that still have a pulse after week 30.
I once asked a college athlete a similar question: “Why do football players wear so much protective equipment, while soccer and basketball players seem perfectly fine in T-short and shorts?”
He explained that football is unique, in that it a game of irregular bursts of intense violence, rather than extended continuous activity.
Soccer and basketball players are constantly on the move and continuously “warmed up,” so they wear very little protective equipment and yet have fewer and less intense injuries.
Football players, on the other hand, suit up like Knights of the Round Table and still sustain some of the most severe and frightening injuries.
Conceivably a quarterback could play more games. Kickers too and maybe receivers. The offensive and defensive lines however would have to be on a rotation like pitchers in baseball.
Every single play is a car accident worth of force. When you get hit, it hurts, regardless of how tough or strong you are.
[Football is a physically damaging sport that is doing what it can to remain legal while avoiding the full consequences of the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy it engenders in its players.](https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2778)
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